WASHINGTON (AP) — Jared Kushner's current access to secret information does not threaten U.S. national security, the national intelligence director told Congress on Tuesday.
President Donald Trump's son-in-law had been cleared to see "top secret/sensitive compartmented information" level for more than a year. But Kushner lost his access to the nation's deepest secrets when White House chief of staff John Kelly downgraded his clearance over questions that arose during his background briefing.
Now, Kushner sees information only at the lower "secret" level, but not highly classified information, Dan Coats said.
"He has a temporary security clearance as do several others" at the White House, Coats said. "Kelly has taken the position that we need to shorten that list. It's in process right now. I don't think this is a threat to our national security."
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who questioned Coats, called the security clearance process "defective" and said he has written to FBI Director Christopher Wray and White House counsel Don McGahn seeing a full explanation of how clearances are issued. Coats said he would cooperate with that review.
