Sins of omission

President Trump’s son-in-law has a lot of big jobs to do. He’s a close adviser to the President. He’s in charge of a task force reinventing government. He’s “the primary point of contact for presidents, ministers and ambassadors from more than two dozen countries,” per The Washington Post. Oh, and he’s point person on brokering Mideast peace.

For all this and more, Jared Kushner needs security clearance. Oopsie! On the required form, handed over on Jan. 18, Kushner was required to list all contacts with foreign government officials over the last seven years. Kushner forgot a few. Actually, a lot. Such as his meetings with Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak and Sergey Gorkov, head of the state-owned Vnesheconombank — under U.S. sanctions, by the way.

His lawyer claims the omissions were a simple “error.” Maybe. But the form warns that “withholding, misrepresenting, or falsifying information” could trigger loss of access to classified information and even prosecution; this is serious business.

The mistake excuse would be easier to accept if this didn’t seem like a pattern — or two.

One: the perpetual “forgetting” by members of Team Trump of meetings and discussions with Kremlin officials. Ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn, now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions and former campaign adviser Carter Page all had to cop to meeting Kislyak after the fact.

Two: As candidate and President, Trump has refused to release his tax returns or decisively resolve business conflicts of interest.

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, even when it’s an apple-in-law.