Axios reported Sunday about the forthcoming book from New York Times' Michael Schmidt, Donald Trump v. The United States. One of the key facts walks through a leaked memo from former White House counsel Don McGahn to former chief of staff John Kelly, detailing why Jared Kushner should have his security clearance downgraded.
"The information you were briefed on one week ago and subsequently relayed to me raises serious additional concerns about whether this individual ought to retain a top security clearance until such issues can be investigated and resolved," McGahn wrote in the memo according to Schmidt's book.
The memo, however, doesn't give specifics about the intelligence about Kushner that prompted the alarms. McGahn said that he was blocked from the briefing or "access this highly compartmented information directly" about Kushner, the book explained.
The details of the highly sensitive intelligence that raised alarms with Kelly are not revealed in Schmidt's book.
"Interim secret is the highest clearance that I can concur until further information is received," McGahn said in the two-page memo. It was a reference to the classified information that Kushner would have access to.
"By reducing Kushner's clearance from top secret to secret, McGahn and Kelly had restricted Kushner's access to the [Presidential Daily Briefing], the closely held rundown provided by the intelligence community six days a week for the president and his top aides, and other highly sensitive intelligence that exposed sources and methods," the book continued. "McGahn did note that there was a possibility that when the background check was complete, it could be resolved in Kushner's favor, or there could be a recommendation that he not receive a clearance."
In the Memo, McGahn said, "that Trump could if he chose simply disregard any security concerns and circumvent any standard procedures and grant Kushner the security clearance himself."
