rep. elijah cummings has already taken issue with donald trump<u+2019>s ethics once before. | ap photo by darren samuelsohn 11/16/16 03:31 pm est a senior house democrat demanded donald trump<u+2019>s transition team explain what role jared kushner <u+2014> the president-elect<u+2019>s son-in-law <u+2014> has been playing in their effort, including whether a request had been made for him join top secret classified briefings. in a letter to vice president-elect mike pence, rep. elijah cummings (d-md.) specifically questioned whether kushner will be participating in the daily defense, intelligence and national security updates. cummings also noted that trump<u+2019>s son-in-law is legally barred from joining the new administration in an official capacity because of anti-nepotism laws. story continued below kushner wasn<u+2019>t with trump in his first national security briefing on tuesday, but the maryland democrat insisted that the president-elect<u+2019>s reported interests in such a move <u+201c>demonstrate a breathtaking lapse in judgment and astonishingly cavalier attitude towards our nation<u+2019>s most sensitive secrets.<u+201d> trump on wednesday morning took to twitter to dispute news accounts from cbs news and others that he has been requesting security clearances <u+201c>for my children,<u+201d> calling it a <u+201c>typically false news story.<u+201d> but the president-elect<u+2019>s post didn<u+2019>t address the role of kushner, a real estate investor and close adviser to trump who is believed to be in the running for a white house job or informal outside role. cummings, the ranking member of the house oversight and government reform committee, has already taken issue with trump<u+2019>s ethics once before. on monday, he wrote to the republican chair of the house panel urging an investigation into the president-elect<u+2019>s private financial arrangements. with his latest missive, cummings isn<u+2019>t waiting for trump to publicly ask for kushner to get clearance. but he did urge pence to explain exactly what role kushner will play in the administration while noting trump <u+201c>is specifically prohibited from employing or appointing<u+201d> kushner to any federal positions under anti-nepotism laws. cummings also asked who trump and his transition team have requested for security clearances, as well as who on the transition team doesn<u+2019>t have such approval but who is under consideration for the briefings. by bill scher by joshua zeitz by thomas wright by jack shafer
cummings demands info on jared kushner<u+2019>s role in trump transition - politico
darren samuelsohn jack shafer