HOW’D THAT HAPPEN

House Launches Probe Into Kushner, Flynn’s White House Security Clearances

Alleging Trump admin “appear[s] to have disregarded established procedures for safeguarding classified information.”

The House Committee on Oversight and Reform is launching a probe into the Trump administration’s White House security-clearance process, according to a letter from Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD). The House Oversight Committee chairman writes the probe was prompted by “grave breaches of national security at the highest levels of the Trump administration.” The letter further alleges the White House and the Trump transition team “appear to have disregarded established procedures for safeguarding classified information.” After admonishing the administration for allegedly failing to respond to his requests for information in recent years, Cummings demanded information relating to the security clearances of current and former administration officials including John Bolton, Jared Kushner, and Michael Flynn. NBC News notes that the probe could yield information about how Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, gained high-level security clearances despite myriad concerns, and how more than 130 political appointees didn’t hold permanent security clearances more than 10 months after Trump took office.