Oh! Shock! Whatever

President Trump ordered his chief of staff to grant his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, a top-secret security clearance last year, overruling concerns flagged by intelligence officials and the White House’s top lawyer, four people briefed on the matter said.

Mr. Trump’s decision in May so troubled senior administration officials that at least one, the White House chief of staff at the time, John F. Kelly, wrote a contemporaneous internal memo about how he had been “ordered” to give Mr. Kushner the top-secret clearance.

The White House counsel at the time, Donald F. McGahn II, also wrote an internal memo outlining the concerns that had been raised about Mr. Kushner — including by the C.I.A. — and how Mr. McGahn had recommended that he not be given a top-secret clearance.

The disclosure of the memos contradicts statements made by the president, who told The New York Times in January in an Oval Office interview that he had no role in his son-in-law receiving his clearance.

  NYT

Just under three weeks ago Ivanka was telling an interviewer that the idea was nonsense. The whole family is a bunch of lying crooks.

Mr. Kushner’s lawyer, Abbe D. Lowell, also said that at the time the clearance was granted last year that his client went through a standard process.

[...]

The day that Mr. Lowell described Mr. Kushner’s process as having gone through normal routes, aides to Mr. Kushner had asked White House officials to deliver a statement from Mr. Kelly supporting what Mr. Lowell had said. But Mr. Kelly refused to do so, according to a person with knowledge of the events.

[...]

Asked on Thursday about the memos contradicting the president’s account, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said, “We don’t comment on security clearances.”

They already did, Sarah! And they lied.

Peter Mirijanian, a spokesman for Mr. Lowell, said on Thursday: “In 2018, White House and security clearance officials affirmed that Mr. Kushner’s security clearance was handled in the regular process with no pressure from anyone. That was conveyed to the media at the time, and new stories, if accurate, do not change what was affirmed at the time.”

They don't change what was affirmed, no. What was affirmed was a lie, though, ffs.

It is not known precisely what factors led to the problems with Mr. Kushner’s security clearance.

Gee, I wonder if it had anything to do with his family's business trying to secure loans from foreign governments, or that they were selling visas to Chinese for investments, or that they received millions in investments from Israelis when Jared was headed to Israel in 2017, or that Saudi prince MBS bragged he had Jared in his pocket, or perhaps that he had to amend his disclosure of foreign connections SF86 form multiple times because "his assistant" failed to put down everything, or that he failed to mention meeting with the head of a Russian state-owned bank and with the Russian ambassador, asking for a secret back door channel in the Russian embassy.  Did I miss anything?

House Democrats are in the early stages of an investigation into how several Trump administration officials obtained clearances, including Mr. Kushner.

Mr. Trump’s precise language to Mr. Kelly about Mr. Kushner’s clearance in their direct conversation remains unclear. Two of the people familiar with Mr. Trump’s discussions with Mr. Kelly said that there might be different interpretations of what the president said. But Mr. Kelly believed it was an order, according to two people familiar with his thinking.

Precisely the way Michael Cohen said Trump operates in his testimony yesterday. Also the way James Comey described it. And Andrew McCabe. Like a mob boss. Letting you know what he wants without spelling it out.

When this is one day - hopefully! - all over, attorney Abbe Lowell is going to be disgraced and Sarah Sanders is going to be a pariah.

Dump Trump.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 3/1: