The Trump administration official tasked with vetting thousands of staffers hasn't been fully vetted himself, according to three insiders.
Three administration sources told the New York Post that Sergio Gor, the director of presidential personnel, has still not submitted official paperwork about his background needed for a permanent security clearance.
A Standard Form 86 “is the first step in receiving a security clearance," a source told the outlet. "Everyone — EVERYONE — fills one out, even if they’re not going into a role that will ultimately need an activated clearance [such as] random comms people, administrative staff [and] legislative affairs."
“It seemed like a ‘The lady doth protest too much, methinks’-type situation," that source said. "Like, why are you going so crazy about not wanting to fill this out?”
The 38-year-old Gor claims to be from Malta, although an official there could not confirm that he was even when provided with an exact birthdate, and Gor declined to tell the outlet where he was born, except specifying it wasn't Russia.
“Sergio Gor is a trusted adviser to President Trump and he has played a critical role in helping President Trump staff the most talented administration in history," said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. "It’s sad the New York Post is engaging in baseless gossip rather than focusing on how the Trump administration is tackling the issues impacting our country and world.”
Gor, a former aide to Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), quickly rose the ranks in Trump's orbit by ingratiating himself at Mar-a-Lago, and now he's in charge of selecting more than 4,000 executive branch staffers to implement the president's agenda and took the blame for rejecting Elon Musk's preferred candidate to lead NASA, Jared Isaacman.
“Sergio has one of the toughest jobs in the administration,” said one supporter. “He has to say ‘no’ to a lot of people, including a lot of cabinet officials [and] a lot of times he’s telling people, ‘No, you can’t hire this person’ for their own good.’ … He has to say ‘no’ to a lot of officials who aren’t used to hearing the letters N and O put together.”
Gor strongly opposed the use of the SF-86 during the presidential transition, saying he was concerned the "deep state" would use the form to keep some Trump picks out of government.
“He was actively working to convince everyone, including the lawyers, that the SF-86 was unnecessary and that Trump could just provide everyone with a clearance through his executive authority,” a source said. “He basically argued that the ‘deep state’ could corrupt the clearance process by weaponizing the SF-86 and background check investigations.”
