Jared Kushner lied on his security clearance forms -- a federal felony with a penalty of five years

[L. Coyote]

This is what "Make America Great Again" looks like, a litany of felons.

Link to tweet

[DavidDvorkin]

1. The prosecution will get under way any minute now.

[jrthin]

5. I bet you wouldn't

advise me to hold my breath.

[DavidDvorkin]

25. Correct.

[Orrex]

10. But! But! But!

What about Susan Rice?

[L. Coyote]

60. Now that jared is caught, they moved off Susan and onto Syria.

Oh wait, Syria fell flat and today's distraction is Korea. Anything except #TrumpRussia.

[uponit7771]

40. +1

[malaise]

2. Rules, laws, precedence and convention

do not apply to the Con and his goons.

[Cosmocat]

3. Yep

it was a big stretch prior to November 8th, but we are now at a point where it's pretty much over.

[bigbrother05]

4. Am sure Sessions will get right on that

[malaise]

6. Don't hold your breath

please

[L. Coyote]

12. Will they rename a Trump resort the Fellow Felons Fort?

And build a wall around it to keep out that most undesirable witch, Justice.

Link to tweet

[progressoid]

15. Or surely Congress will investigate it!

[crazycatlady]

7. Lock him up

[Kentonio]

8. It beggars belief that we live in a time when people can openly commit crimes

And are so confident that it will never mean anything that they don't even bother to cover it up. Flynn and god knows how many others break the Logan act? So what? He gets fired for the far worse crime of making the Vice President look bad. People don't disclose their dealings with foreign governments, and lie on their security clearance forms? So what, he's the Presidents son in law, what is anyone going to do about it?

The worlds gone crazy. Bush and his cronies showed that you can do anything the hell you want in office and there will be zero consequences legally. Torture, lying about the reasons for starting a war? Sure, no problem.

[lark]

34. People can't openly commit crimes, only Repugs.

Dems are torn limb from limb if they even think of not following a single rule but Repugs follow no rules and no one calls them on it. Or if they call them on it, they can be distracted by any little thing like missile strikes on Syria. No one can keep up with the breaking every law in existence, Drumpf friends of russia and family dramas.

[L. Coyote]

42. The NY Times calls them out. Thank goodness. LA Times too.

At some point, the trump administration will simply implode. LA Times is calling them out too:

Why Trump Lies

[BSdetect]

9. We have left planet of laws and justice we are now freewheeling into disaster

[world wide wally]

11. So much for that "nation of laws" bullshit

[Guilded Lilly]

13. Even amidst the insanity, every day is more surreal...

And there was always the element of serious, damaging corruption lurking close beneath the surface of the Republican Party and the vile men in positions of power...
But this science fiction we are living in defies everything remotely sane.

[L. Coyote]

16. Armies of Trolls enhance the upside-down, down the rabbit hole, fantasmagorial nightmare effect.

Our language falls short on being able to describe this New World Disorder, a combination of Adolf Hitler, Salvador Dali, Satan in Hell, Alice in Wonderland, and Dorothy not in Kansas anymore.

[Achilleaze]

44. Wow - what an apt & ugly image

where did that come from?

[shenmue]

14. tRump should be the first President arrested in office

[PoliticAverse]

24. Ulysses S. Grant was actually arrested while he was President...

See: http://wtop.com/news/2012/10/dc-police-once-arrested-a-us-president-for-speeding/

[bdamomma]

36. I wish they would cuff the man

and his cohorts including that filthy McConnell and Ryan. They can arrest Gorsuch too.

[nikibatts]

17. Crime went up in the country as soon as 45 took the oath.

[L. Coyote]

18. Crime went up every time a nominee took the oath.

But hey, there are people policing our police:

Link to tweet

[packman]

19. Orwell said it-

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
― George Orwell, Animal Farm

There are rules for you, rules for me - but none for those who make the rules

[Scruffy1]

20. Silly rabbit.

laws only apply to proles.

[WinkyDink]

21. Jared is the son of a convicted felon. These people are mobsters without regard for the law.

[not fooled]

59. Yep

Goons in expensive clothing. The line between predatory capitalism and outright criminality is going, going, gone.

The corporate media keeps trying to put a veneer of respectability on these thugs, to keep the peasantry compliant.

[WinkyDink]

63. Hey, don't forget the Dapper Don! ;-)

[Initech]

22. Another crime committed by the Trump administration.

And yet not a god damn thing will happen to them.

[tammywammy]

23. If I had lied on my SF-86 about contact with foreign natuonals

Me being not related to Trump that is:
1. Any clearance would have been immediately revoked
2. I would be fired from my job
3. I would be swiftly escorted off company property

[janterry]

26. Are the people who grant clearance in Trumps 'pocket'?

why can't the clearance be revoked? Or does the POTUS - indirectly, I assume, get the final say on that.

[IronLionZion]

38. Obama's director of OPM was dismissed on Trump's inauguration day

Trump still hasn't appointed a replacement but they do have an acting director. Lots of vacant positions there and they have changed their contractor support and processes and lots of other stuff after some high profile mishaps including a large cyber attack from a foreign government.

OPM is understaffed/overworked and has long delays in conducting background investigations now for people other than Trump's VIPs. It's been taking many months for normal people, so it was apparently rushed for Jared and Ivanka. I doubt they would revoke Jared's clearance any time soon as long as Donald has his thumb on the scale.

[janterry]

39. Trump has made one thing clear

Our system of checks and balances neither check nor balance.

I guess our only hope right now is Comey (or a realignment in 2018).

[PoliticAverse]

27. I'm sure the Independent Counsel will get right on that...

if they are ever appointed.

[Jonny Appleseed]

28. Is there anyway we can do something?

Can we file criminal complaints against him?

[jmg257]

29. They told the FBI they screwed up and would provide more data - he'll be ok.

[saidsimplesimon]

30. Thank you Coyote

Are we taking bets on when Daffy Duck will grant his first executive pardon?

[IronLionZion]

31. This is not like lying about smoking weed

this is serious stuff that can lead to prison.

[Sunlei]

32. get rid of ALL who lied on security clearance forms. Lots of Deceptions over "Russia thing" by Rs.

Why is that Republicans? what are you trying to hide?

Many Republican party and current Admin. people, 15?, 20? or more? deceptive people- lie, after lie about Russian connections.

[roomtomove]

33. Any similarities to this

The presidency of Ronald Reagan in the United States was marked by multiple scandals, resulting in the investigation, indictment, or conviction of over 138 administration officials, the largest number for any U.S. president.

1 Iran–Contra affair
2 Department of Housing and Urban Development grant rigging
3 Lobbying scandal
4 EPA scandals
5 Inslaw Affair
6 Savings & loan crisis
7 Operation Ill Wind
8 Wedtech Scandal
9 Debategate

[Bernardo de La Paz]

35. Notable, and worthy of the reminder. Thx. tRump is going to try to outdo that record. . . nt

[L. Coyote]

37. A record number of cabinet felons already, lying under oath before being sworn in.

That record should stand the test of time! We hope, anyway.

[Solly Mack]

41. What's a little crime among seasoned thugs?

Snort

He'll never be charged. The GOP would howl that someone was criminalizing politics.

I marvel at politicians committing crimes than crying about how others are criminalizing politics.

See?

They don't commit crimes - they are merely being political.

And it works. That shit actually works. For certain people.

If you ever commit a crime, just tell the judge you were practicing politics.

See how that plays out for you.

I'm betting not so well.

[Achilleaze]

43. republican liars need to be held to account for their lies

but then again, republicans are in charge and they don't give a shit about republican lies as they prove over and over again.

[L. Coyote]

45. Sessions needs to go to jail for a long time.

The higher the official who commits a crime like Sessions did, perjury under oath before Congress while testifying at his hearing to be the highest law enforcement person in the nation, the more important that justice be served or we all lose faith in justice for everyone.

[Mr. Ected]

46. I'm afraid we're past that juncture, unfortunately

The time to go after Sessions for perjury was then and there. It was obvious, it was blatant, it was in full view of the Congress and the American people. The media reported it and US officials were on full notice.

That train seems to have left the station with no one on-board.

Why?

[L. Coyote]

48. Why? Because the perjuror works for the Liar-in-Chief.

The buck stops at trump, and if he's a huge liar who nominates fellow liars and doesn't care if they lie (except to protect higher-ups like Pence, it seems), There is no recourse except Congress. Since the Congress was lied to, it is up to them to complain, and they are complicit Republicans.

Bottom line on "Why?" Because a party of lying cheaters has seized control of our government.

[DFW]

47. If we prosecuted Republicans for lies

Democrats would run unopposed nationwide.

Actually, though, there ARE instances of Republicans prosecuting for lies. They just never prosecute other Republicans for it.

[kacekwl]

49. You know the "Rule of law" bla,bla,bla , Great , Fantastic....

Bullshit.

[ck4829]

50. Kick

[Lee-Lee]

51. Lies on an SF-86 are a huge issue

This is what I do say in and day out, and one thing I push is that a lie is 100x worse than just telling them the truth. If an investigator finds any indications of deception that is a huge red flag.

However, it is intent to deceive that matters in that case.

In this case from what I see on The NY Times article it says the day after the SF-86 was submitted his aide notified OPM they had left information off and would be submitting additional details. The investigators will see that not as intent but an oversight, and will probably look at those meetings a little closer but it won't be an issue since it appears he self-corrected the error before being asked about it.


I have had to do that for one of our new hires at work. He was retired Navy and his clearance had expired before he was hired, but his last tour was in a joint headquarters in Afghanistan where he worked with foreign officers and often briefed or talked to civilian officials of Afghanistan and of other coalition nations. Trying to tack down the details of all those people was a nightmare for him, and twice we had to submit additional information as he found the contact information and details of people he had met with and briefed and often forgot about as soon as it was over. Eventually the investigator told us she had enough to get the picture and unless something major came up not to submit more changes unless she asked.

If the investigator looks and sees that the omissions were accidental and sees the honest attempts to correct the record and supply as complete a record as possible they will adjudicate favorably unless they find other underlying issues.

[Blanks]

53. I wonder what position Jared and Ivanka will have in the Pence administration...

Do you reckon he'll be Pence's solution to everything too. I read somewhere Trump has gained like a hundred pounds. He ain't gonna make it to 100 days gaining weight like that.

[L. Coyote]

55. Ivanka lied too will be the next story, I suspect. None and none

would be the answer.

But Pence may go down ahead of Trump. Then the big question is who can get past the Senate and House confirmation to be the next Vice-President.

CLUES: Not Jared. Not Ivanka.

[Blanks]

58. I don't think Pence will go first...

I once thought that he would, but 'Presidenting' is taking its toll on Trump. He's gonna quit for health reasons is my new prediction. We will probably have a few months of decent job numbers because it's the construction time of year, but even if the economy expands through the summer, job numbers will be bad by October, it'll kill him or he'll quit.

The 'Russian collusion' scandal will bring down Pence, probably next year. Flynn didn't lie to Pence, Pence was in on the deception.

[Jonny Appleseed]

54. So why isn't this being treated like the Sessions story? Why isn't the media pressing the DOJ?

[Lee-Lee]

56. Because since he self-corrected the next day it's a non-issue

There are plenty of legitimate issues that have legs to push on. This one simply isn't one of them.

It would be a totally different matter had they left those meetings off and never said anything. Or waiting until an investigator asked why they were not disclosed. But a correction or notice more info is coming given the next day makes it a non-issue from the standpoint of the process of adjudicating the clearance.

I can see this spin value here as it makes a great headline, but there really is no substance behind it.

[Jonny Appleseed]

57. Ah thanks for telling me

Strangely enough, nobody seems to include that point when they post excerpts.

[BSdetect]

61. How many crimes have they clocked up now, without charges?

[L. Coyote]

62. That's a lot of special prosecutors!

[L. Coyote]

64. House Dems Seek Suspension Of Kushners Security Clearance

Link to tweet

[L. Coyote]

65. Rep. Nadler: Kushner 'Intentionally Omitted' Meetings With Russians

Link to tweet

Link to tweet