Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, has been under extreme scrutiny for allegedly lying on the forms he submitted to gain his security clearance. Now Kushner’s problems have expanded to his wife, Ivanka Trump.
Led by Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), more than 20 House Democrats penned a letter to acting F.B.I Director Andrew McCabe Wednesday calling for an investigation into whether or not Ivanka Trump was truthful in her application for a top-level security clearance. The application, known as an SF-86, requires applicants to disclose foreign contacts, meetings, and business interests by the clearance holder in addition to those of their spouse and siblings.
“Did she disclose her husband’s meeting with Kislyak and Gorkov? Did she disclose her brother’s and husband’s meeting with Veselnitskaya? Did she accurately disclose her own foreign contacts in her initial filing, which reports suggest may be numerous?” asks House Democrats in the letter to the F.B.I. “If in fact she did accurately disclose these meetings, who at the White House knew of Mr. Kushner’s and Mr. Trump Jr’s multiple contacts with Russian officials before they were made public? And, most importantly, did she discuss any of these meetings with the President, and, if so, when?
The letter notes that “knowingly falsifying or concealing information on an SF-86 questionnaire is a felony, punishable up to 5 years in prison.”
This comes at a time of heightened scrutiny over her husband Jared Kushner’s continuous revisions to his own SF-86, omitting key meetings with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyack, the head of state-run Vnesheconombank Sergey Gorkov, and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, among nearly 100 others.
According to CNN, there is growing concern over whether Kushner’s security clearance will be revoked within the White House itself.
The demand for an investigation into Ivanka Trump’s security clearance is the latest effort by House Democrats to force their Republican colleagues to vote on matters of ethics and transparency as it relates to the Trump administration. House Republicans blocked a proposed amendment by Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL) in the House Appropriations Committee last week that would have prohibited the government from issuing (or maintaining) any White House clearances to those under investigation for aiding a foreign government. In response, Democrats from various committees in the House proposed a number of resolutions of inquiry.
Resolutions of inquiry are measures that trigger floor votes if no legislative action is taken within 14 (legislative) days of proposal. This would effectively allow votes on measures that would normally die in committee along party lines to have a vote on the floor.
At the press conference announcing the resolutions of inquiry, Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) said it “isn’t enough” for Republicans to tell their constituents that President Trump should release his tax returns, if they’re not willing to vote for it in committee or on the House floor. As a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Pascrell has proposed a resolution of inquiry requesting Trump’s tax returns from the past decade.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) offered a resolution of inquiry to the House Judiciary Committee for the Department of Justice to release Trump documents or records involving the firing of former F.B.I Director James Comey and the extent of Attorney General Jeff Session’s involvement in it.
Other resolutions include the release of any documents related to Trump connections to Russian banks, plans by Trump to lift Russian sanctions, and the Trump Organization’s lease with the federal government for the property that now serves as the Trump International Hotel in Washington.