The entire Republican Party spent two years dog-piling on Hillary Clinton over her emails and use of a private server. Time and time again, they said she could not be trusted on issues of national security. Now these same Republicans continue to back Donald Trump and his administration, despite one clear national security failure after another, beginning with his compromised national security adviser. Heck, even before they took office there were suspicious activities with secretive meetings at Trump Tower, efforts to create backchannels to Russia, and potentially illegal contributions to Trump’s campaign from foreigners. From the start, this administration compromised national security.
Today we learned that White House security adviser Tricia Newfold, an 18-year veteran of the White House, who has worked for multiple administrations, has informed Congress that 25 people in the Trump administration have been given security clearances despite failing to pass the necessary background checks. These individuals had been denied clearances, but the denials were reversed “despite concerns about their ties to foreign influence, conflicts of interests, questionable or criminal conduct, financial problems or drug abuse.”
As this story rightly gains steam, Republicans are pushing back against the idea that this is a serious national security issue. As Democrats move to investigate, led by House Oversight Committee Chair Elijah Cummings, House Republicans have released their defense in a nine-page letter that attacks Democrats for investigating and Newfold for doing her job. Most incredibly, though, it says the security clearances are no big deal because only four or five of those people cleared for security clearances had “very serious” issues.
If Kline overturned only—at most—five clearance adjudications with very serious concerns out of five thousand, Ms. Newbold’s concerns seem overblown.
Bolded for emphasis because this is stunningly irresponsible. The Republican defense is that “at most—five” people with “serious” security concerns were cleared over Newfold’s objections.
Look, the worst of all games is “What would happen if this were President Obama or President Clinton?” BUT COME ON. Can you imagine if President Hillary Clinton overruled career security personnel and granted top-secret clearance to her daughter and son-in-law, who were financially entwined with foreign adversaries?!
This is extremely serious. Our closest allies are watching this news. They are aware that 25 people gained security clearances to the nation’s and the world’s most guarded secrets. CNN national security analyst Sam Vinograd made this crucial point earlier today.
Folks, this is yet another massive scandal that would’ve buried other administrations. Will the White House force anyone to resign who received these clearances in spite of security concerns? The public should demand it. Republicans too. Our national security is a bipartisan issue. Period.