Legal question regarding Gorka

[PJMcK]

It's interesting that ousted advisor Sebastian Gorka tells a different story than the White House. However, as long as he's gone, I don't really care if he was fired or quit.

But there's an underlying question that perhaps a DU attorney could answer. The story I've read is that General Kelly revoked Gorka's security clearance making Gorka's job impossible. Under what circumstances would General Kelly take such an action? Would Gorka have had to violate his oath of secrecy? Or can a security clearance be revoked for any or no reason? An executive decision was made to remove Gorka and I'd be interested to know why it was.

Besides cleaning house of the likes of Bannon, is there a backstory about Gorka's ouster?

[brush]

1. Richard Painter, an ex-Bush admin attorney has been on Joy Reid's show and several others...

over the last weeks and has sworn over and over that they (the Republican Party, the non-trump wing) was going to rid the party of the alt-right nazis.

And he hasn't been shy at naming them — Bannon, Gorka and Miller.

I see the wheels have been turning behind the scenes to do just that.

Miller is next.

Hats off to the Republicans who are stepping up to challenge trump.

There needs to be more of them.

[oberliner]

7. Does he think George W Bush with ethical?

He was in the administration during the invasion of Iraq, was he not?

[brush]

8. I'm glad that he helped get rid of Bannon and Gorka.

Have you seen him on AMJoy?

What's the old adage: The enemy of my enemy...

[mercuryblues]

2. I am not an attorney

but the reasons to revoke a security clearance can range from holding meetings with say Russia and not reporting them on your application, That would give Russians a reason to blackmail you for info. Even a closeted gay person can get denied for not revealing this for the same reason.

Having financial dealings with foreign countries, especially if they are not reported on your disclosure form. They can use those dealings to garner favors or get you to give them classified info.

Drugs or gambling addictions.

With Gorka, I suspect it is because of affiliations with Nazi groups. There is a question of his credentials being suspicious.

[PJMcK]

4. Thanks for the good points! (n/t)

[Mc Mike]

3. And now that his security clearance was revoked,

can he be deported? Can half of him be sent to England, and half to Hungary?

[cos dem]

5. There is no "right" to a security clearance...

so there would be no legal question. In general, if the sponsor of your clearance is not satisfied with the risk you pose (due to things like colluding with foreign governments to get yourself elected, prostituting yourself to said governments to look out for their interests over the interests of your own country, or associating with Nazis) then the sponsor can take your clearance, and there really is not much recourse.

Now, the relevant question is, how the fuck does anyone in this admin have a clearance? I know the pResident and vp have access to everything by virtue of being "elected", but every other fuckwit in this group should have their clearances revoked. I do like that Kelly (one of the more responsible ones, I'll grant you) has used it as a means to get rid of someone. Perhaps this will be useful for others.

[PJMcK]

9. Interesting points

Thanks for your response.

I agree that it's hard to believe that some of Trump's people pass the background checks I assume are part of obtaining a security clearance.

General Kelly seems to be highly disciplined, which isn't surprising, given his personal history. But I'm uncomfortable with the safety of our nation resting on a military man's shoulders. Additionally, he seems to be tilted pretty far to the right.

[HipChick]

6. He would had had to apply for security clearance..apparently he never had one

So I'm betting he never filled out a SF-85

[PJMcK]

10. Your response is confusing

The articles I've read all state that Gorka had his clearance revoked, on the order of General Kelly, while Gorka was on vacation. As a result, he didn't have a job to come back to.

If his clearance was revoked, it means he had it before. Perhaps it was discovered that he filed an incomplete or misleading SF-85. That would be cause for the revocation of the security clearance.

[HipChick]

11. You can't file an incomplete SF-85

You can only have an interim or full clearance....he never had a full clearance...

and interim is only initially granted, while you are being investigated.

You can't revoke something you never had..if he had an interim, he would be sitting in meetings...the fact that he was still not allowed, tells me he did not even have interim..



Now Gorka works in the White House as an adviser on counterterrorism, but as recently as March, he had reportedly yet to receive a security clearance. The White House did not respond to a request for comment on whether Gorka had received his clearance.

“The last I heard he had not been cleared to sit in any sort of national security meetings, which leaves him without much to do all day,” one former Obama administration defense official said in early April. The official remains in contact with the professional staff at the National Security Council and asked for anonymity to openly discuss off-the-record conversations with former colleagues.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/mitchprothero/how-a-trump-adviser-failed-upwards-from-hungary-to-the?utm_term=.sh0V4P5pXb#.thrBNYa98D

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. He was caught trying to take a gun onto a plane in 2016, so his security clearance was always dodgy

A Virginia judge on Friday dismissed a gun charge against White House national security adviser Sebastian Gorka, finding that the former Breitbart editor met the terms of his plea deal.

Judge William T. Newman Jr. said he was dismissing the charge given that Gorka met the required six months of good behavior after his August plea deal. Gorka was arrested Jan. 31, 2016 for bringing a handgun through security at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington and faced up to 12 months in jail and a fine of $2,500 for the class one misdemeanor.
...
The gun charge is not the only misdemeanor on Gorka’s record. On Feb. 19, 2016, just a few weeks after the gun charge, Gorka was arrested in Spotsylvania County, Virginia for reckless driving. On April 25, he was found guilty in absentia, meaning he did not show up for the hearing or send an attorney to represent him.
...
According to court records, Gorka has previously been arrested for reckless driving at least one other time in Fairfax County, Virginia in September 2014. The charge was amended from a reckless driving misdemeanor to a speeding infraction in court, and Gorka paid the $150 fine.

https://thinkprogress.org/gorka-charge-dismissed-480115a83610/

He's basically an unstable person, who shouldn't be trusted with anything.

[PJMcK]

13. Just like his boss

"He's basically an unstable person, who shouldn't be trusted with anything."

[Mc Mike]

14. "Take this plane to 1940's Hungary!" nt