Trump can issue security clearances to whomever he wants. He lied anyway – Washington Examiner

In the latest bombshell to ricochet around the Beltway press, the New York Times discovered that against the guidance of President Trump’s top intelligence officials and legal counsel, he unilaterally granted his son-in-law and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner a top-secret security clearance.

The president has that power. This wouldn’t even be a story if his camp hadn’t spent months lying about it.

The president and Ivanka Trump both publicly maintained that the former had no interference in the matter. They didn’t perjure themselves, but they lied to the press and the public about it.

Naturally, the Left is outraged about the matter. While the rest of the country likely won’t even hear about the story, they have a right to be outraged.

Trump manufactured this controversy. He has the full legal authority to grant security clearances against the discretion of his counsel. If he wanted to flex a muscle and gift his son-in-law a top-secret clearance, so be it. But he didn’t have to lie about it and shouldn’t have lied about it.

Another day, another dumb reminder that amid one of the greatest job markets in modern history, relative foreign policy successes, successful prison and tax reform legislation, and judicial appointees being confirmed at breakneck speed, Trump can’t stop creating his own turmoil.