President-elect Donald Trump is considering trying to get Donald Jr., Eric and Ivanka Trump, along with Jared Kushner, his right-hand man and Ivanka Trump’s husband, permission to receive top security clearance, according to a transition source.
Another transition official pushed back on the reporting, which was first published by CBS News.
According to a pool news report, the official said the President-elect did not request that this step be taken, and the Trump children have not started filling out paperwork for such clearances.
“That’s not something I’m expecting right now,” the transition official told the press pool.
Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told news outlets Wednesday that she didn’t have specific details on security clearance, but that if it was requested, then it appeared to be informal.
“It sounds to me that was an envelope question posed by someone,” Conway told Fox News. “It doesn’t sound like it was a formal request.”
She also told NBC’s “Today” show, “I only know what I read, which is that the inquiries were made very informally, and that’s all I know.”
It is unusual for a president’s children to be so clued in to White House policy. But the three kids have long been essential advisers to their father’s presidential bid, and were named last week to the presidential transition committee — which raises conflict-of-interest questions given that they will also manage Trump’s massive business enterprise.
And Kushner, who has been one of Trump’s most trusted confidants is expected to be heavily involved in Trump’s White House, perhaps in a formal capacity.
If given merely “secret” clearance, the four might have access to secure communications technology or perhaps to travel schedules and Secret Service procedures.
It would likely not mean the Trump children start getting operational or analytical intelligence reports in their inbox — unless they have a job that requires it. More likely, it would mean if there is a document they need to see for what they are doing, then they will have the functional clearance to look at it.