It’s time for Jared Kushner to leave the White House

It’s understandable that a president elected as an outsider, even over the objections of many in his own party, would want trusted family members working in his White House, but it’s time for Jared Kushner to go.

In late February, the president’s son-in-law was one of the White House aides who saw his interim security clearance downgraded from “top secret/sensitive compartmented information” to the lower classification of “secret,” which gives him less access to government secrets and prevents him from seeing the Presidential Daily Brief.

As senior adviser to the president, Kushner has taken on a portfolio that includes sensitive policy matters involving the Middle East and China. Without a top-secret clearance, he is unable to attend all the meetings and see all the material relevant to that work.

It’s possible that when the FBI concludes its background investigation, Kushner’s top-secret clearance will be restored, but it’s the reason for the delay that is cause for concern.

The family firm that Kushner ran before joining the White House staff, Kushner Companies, has business dealings with multinational companies and other countries that are affected by U.S. policy. Inevitably, questions will arise about White House meetings and access that coincide with business decisions.

That was the case last spring when Kushner met at the White House with executives of Citigroup and Apollo Global Management. When the financial firms made large loans to fund Kushner Companies’ projects soon after, everyone involved was asked whether Kushner had played any role in the decisions.

A Citigroup representative said the meeting was a routine Washington visit to discuss NAFTA and U.S. trade policy and CEO Michael Corbat, who met with Kushner, had no knowledge of a $325 million loan for a development in Brooklyn that was made a month later. An attorney for Apollo also denied that loans were discussed with Kushner.

In a new controversy, Kushner Companies is under investigation by New York City officials for allegedly filing false statements in permit applications for construction work on residential buildings during the time that Jared Kushner ran the company. The filings stated that there were zero rent-regulated tenants, when in fact there were hundreds.

Kushner Companies stated that the permit applications, which were signed by company officials but not by Jared Kushner personally, contained “mistakes and typographical errors” that it later corrected. The firm said it has been targeted for “politically motivated attacks.”

The loss of Kushner’s interim top-secret security clearance indicates that his business dealings potentially create a vulnerability to outside influence. The president shouldn’t be put in the position of having to investigate a family member when a question arises about a correlation between government contacts and decisions by businesses or foreign governments that benefit Kushner Companies.

Jared Kushner’s time as a White House senior adviser should be brought to a diplomatic end.