4/1/2019

CONGRESS/NATIONAL SECURITY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WHITE HOUSE STAFF: “A whistle-blower working inside the White House has told a House committee that senior Trump administration officials granted security clearances to at least 25 individuals whose applications had been denied by career employees for ‘disqualifying issues’ that could put national security at risk, the committee’s Democratic staff said Monday [4-1-19]. The whistle-blower, Tricia Newbold, a manager in the White House’s Personnel Security Office, told the House Committee on Oversight and Reform in a private interview last month that the 25 applicants included two current senior White House officials, in addition to contractors and other employees working for the office of the president, the staff said in a memo it released publicly. The memo does not identify any of the 25 people. But one of the senior White House officials appears to be Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser. NBC News reported in January that Carl Kline, who until recently served as the head of the personnel security division and was Ms. Newbold’s boss, had overruled a decision by career security officials concerned about granting Mr. Kushner a clearance.”

Nicholas Fandos and Maggie Haberman, “White House Whistle-Blower Tells Congress of Irregularities in Security Clearances,” The New York Times online, April 1, 2019