How Trump Gave — Or Tried To Give — Saudi Arabia The Bomb*
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The crown jewels and their princes Jared Kushner and Mohamed Bin Salman
(Given the revelation that the recently executed search warrant at Trump’s Florida property referenced highly classified documents relating to nuclear weapons, I am reposting a version of this from its original on March 3, 2019.)
Two reports this week, read together, reveal a depth of concern and potential corruption greater and more dangerous than the sum of their parts. At the outset I apologize for the length of this post. The devil in this instance is literally in the details.
1. The Times reported on February 28, 2019 that Mr. Trump overruled intelligence agencies, White House Counsel and his Chief of Staff in ordering Mr. Kushner be given top-secret security clearance.
Trump Ordered Officials to Give Jared Kushner a Security Clearance
2. The February 2019 Interim Staff Report, Committee on Oversight and Reform, US House of Representatives, revealed details of the Trump Administration’s sustained deployment of a secretive plan to sell nuclear secrets and technology to the Saudis, a move likely intended to assist the kingdom in developing the bomb.
These two reports add insight into the character and quality of the danger that broadly define the current administration.
The New York Times reported, “Trump Ordered Officials to Give Jared Kushner a Security Clearance.” The article explains:
“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 . . . .
“Mr. Trump’s decision . . . 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.
