President Donald Trump intervened to get his daughter -- senior White House advisor Ivanka Trump -- security clearance, CNN reported Tuesday.
"President Donald Trump pressured his then-chief of staff John Kelly and White House counsel Don McGahn to grant his daughter and senior adviser Ivanka Trump a security clearance against their recommendations," CNN reported, based on three sources.
The same was reportedly done for her husband, Jared Kushner.
"While Trump has the legal authority to grant clearances, most instances are left up to the White House personnel security office, which determines whether a staffer should be granted one after the FBI has conducted a background check," CNN reported. "But after concerns were raised by the personnel office, Trump pushed Kelly and McGahn to make the decision on his daughter and son-in-law's clearances so it did not appear as if he was tainting the process to favor his family."
"After both refused, Trump granted them their security clearances," CNN added.
Trump had argued that his daughter and son-in-law would not be in the White House for long.
"In the months after Kushner's clearance was downgraded, Trump badgered aides about the hold up with his daughter and son-in-law, remarking that he didn't see what the issue was in granting them clearances because they would likely move back to New York in the coming months. Sources tell CNN that, for now, neither of them are expected to leave the West Wing," CNN reported.
The two had separate issues that caused career staff to flag their applications.
"Because they are a married couple, concerns that surfaced during one person's security clearance investigation could stall or block both of them from receiving a full clearance. But officials had concerns about granting Trump a clearance that were separate from those raised about her husband, according to one of the sources, though it's unclear what the concerns regarding her were," CNN explained.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed, "we don't comment on security clearances."
