Security Clearance Scandal Explodes – Memo Exposes Trump Administration Cover Up for Failed Applicants

Whistleblower charges top Trump White House officials “continuously overrode” decisions her office made against granting clearances

A whistleblower who has placed her career in jeopardy last month told the House Committee on Oversight and Reform that at least 25 applicants – including top Trump White House aides – should not have been granted security clearances but top administration officials overruled the decisions of career civil servants vetting their applications.

Among those aides who were granted clearances against the recommendation of those career civil servants were Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, a CNN National Security correspondent reported.

House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings on Monday released a 10-page memorandum documenting the whistleblower’s allegations, and it’s a bombshell.

The whistleblower, Tricia Newbold, charges that top Trump White House officials “continuously overrode” decisions her office made against granting clearances.

Among the reasons the 25 or more applicants were originally denied were “foreign influence, conflicts of interest, concerning personal conduct, financial problems, drug use, and criminal conduct,” as The New York Times had reported.

Chairman Cummings did not reveal the names of the 25 or more individuals who were granted security clearances after failing review, but he did reveal some of the names of top administration officials whose files – known as “adjudication summaries” – he is requesting.

Among them, John Bolton, Michael Flynn, Sebastian Gorka, Jared Kushner, John McEntee, K.T. McFarland, Robert Porter, Robin Townley, and Ivanka Trump, as Talking Points Memo reports.

Bolton is currently President Donald Trump’s National Security Advisor. Michael Flynn was President Trump’s first, and now fired National Security Advisor. He is also now a convicted felon. And Rob Porter is Trump’s former White House Staff Secretary who resigned after allegations of domestic abuse were made by his ex-wives.

Newbold says she “raised concerns” with at least seven different people in the Trump administration over the granting of security clearances to those who should not have been allowed them.

At one point her supervisor “called me in his office and asked me to change the recommendation. I said I absolutely would not.”

In return for working to protect the Executive Office of the President (EOP), the Trump administration and the White House, Newbold was suspended without pay for 14 days – despite having “had ‘no prior formal disciplinary action’ in her 18-year career and received a rating of ‘Exceeds Expectations’ on her performance appraisal in 2017, the first year of the Trump Administration,” Chairman Cummings’ memo explains.

Her disciplinary notice stated: “You are not in charge of the Personnel Security Division (PSD) or EOP security. You may not see a complete picture or be aware of the requirements of the entire EOP.”

She says the Trump administration’s new policies are “making the EOP less safe and presenting us more of a risk.”

Chairman Cumming’s memo adds, “Ms. Newbold noted that she fears additional reprisals and losing her job. She stated: ‘I’m terrified of going back. I know that this will not be perceived in favor of my intentions, which is to bring back the integrity of the office.'”