Press Releases

Rep. Don Beyer today sent a letter to White House Counsel Don McGahn demanding that the White House revoke the security clearance of Jared Kushner, Senior Adviser and son-in-law of President Trump.

“Jared Kushner’s actions are incompetent if not criminal, and he cannot be trusted,” said Rep. Don Beyer. “I filled out an SF-86 form to become a US Ambassador.  Thousands of Americans complete it successfully and honestly every year to obtain clearances. Kushner’s story about ‘accidentally’ omitting meetings with Russian officials becomes less plausible every day, given reports that he talked with Russian officials during the campaign, discussed opening secret communications with Putin, and urged Donald Trump to fire James Comey. This is an obvious pattern of secrecy and deception, and the White House must revoke his security clearance.”

Reps. Beyer, Ted Lieu (D-CA), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), and Peter Welch (D-VT) previously wrote a letter seeking suspension of Kushner’s clearance pending review of his omitted meetings. Since that time, news reports have revealed that the meetings which Kushner omitted from his SF-86 form have become a subject of the FBI’s larger investigation of contacts between Russian officials and the Trump campaign.

The new letter was led by Reps. Beyer, Lieu, Nadler, Raskin, and Welch, and signed by Reps. Hank Johnson (D-GA), Donald Payne Jr. (D-NJ), Mark Pocan (D-WI), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Kathy Castor (D-FL), Paul Tonko (D-NY), Jim McGovern (D-MA), David Cicilline (D-RI), Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ), Alcee Hastings (D-FL), Brendan Boyle (D-PA), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Carol Shea-Porter (D-ME), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Norma Torres (D-CA), Katherine Clark (D-MA), Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NY), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Jared Huffman (D-CA), Mike Doyle (D-PA), Nita Lowey (D-NY), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), David Scott (D-GA), Tim Ryan (D-OH), Tim Walz (D-MN), Adam Smith (D-WA), Danny Davis (D-IL), Frederica Wilson (D-FL), John Garamendi (D-CA), Sander Levin (D-MI), Anna Eshoo (D-CA),  Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Janice D. Schakowsky (D-IL), Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA),  Judy Chu (D-CA), Colleen Hanabusa (D-HI), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Grace Meng (D-NY), John Delaney (D-MD), David Loebsack (D-IA), and Scott Peters (D-CA). 

Text of the letter is below, and a signed copy is available here.

The Honorable Don McGahn
Counsel to the President        
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. McGahn:

Multiple press stories[1]^,[2] sourced to senior Administration and law enforcement officials report that Jared Kushner, a senior adviser and son-in-law to the president, is a subject of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) ongoing probe into possible collusion between Russian officials and the Trump campaign. 

According to the reports, Mr. Kushner, along with former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak to discuss options for establishing a secret line of communication directly between the Trump transition team and the Kremlin. Not only was the purpose of the meeting concealed from the public, the meeting itself was omitted from both Mr. Kushner's and Mr. Flynn's FBI security clearance questionnaires. The Standard Form-86 (SF-86), mandatory for obtaining a security clearance, requires the disclosure of all foreign contacts. Knowingly falsifying or concealing information on a SF-86 questionnaire is a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison. [3]   

Given the severity of these allegations and prior revelations that Mr. Kushner omitted this meeting and dozens of other foreign contacts from his SF-86, [4]  we are requesting that the White House immediately revoke Mr. Kushner's clearance pending the conclusion of the investigation.

Serious questions have previously been raised[5] about Mr. Kushner's omitted meetings with Russian officials, meetings which occurred during a time when US intelligence delivered its assessment[6]^,[7] that the Russian government attempted to interfere in US elections. Subsequent news reports now tell the story of clandestine calls and meetings between Mr. Kushner and Russian officials during the campaign and transition, attempts to conceal those meetings from US intelligence and law enforcement, and Mr. Kushner's subsequent support for attempts to obstruct the investigation of Trump-Russia contacts, including his own. While the various congressional and law enforcement investigations continue, the White House should take all possible steps to protect national security including immediately revoking Mr. Kushner's security clearance. 

Thank you for your consideration of this matter.