President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, has gotten a permanent security clearance months after he lost access to top secret documents because of his failure to pass an extensive FBI background check, according to multiple reports.
The background check was completed after more than a year, allowing Kushner to get his permanent clearance, The Washington Post reported Wednesday, citing an unidentified source.
White House officials have said that it's not unusual for background checks to take so long for officials with complicated financial histories or with the sprawling foreign connections that Kushner has, The New York Times reported. Trump was not involved in the process to clear his son-in-law, according to the newspaper.
"As we stated before, his application was properly submitted, reviewed by numerous career officials and underwent the normal process," Kushner's personal attorney, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement obtained by the Post. "Having completed all of these processes, he's looking forward to continuing to do the work the president has asked him to do."
Lowell said his client has been cooperating with the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, headed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. He told the Times that Kushner has met twice with Mueller's investigators with both meetings running for several hours.
“In each occasion, he answered all questions asked and did whatever he could to expedite the conclusion of the investigations,” Lowell said.
Kushner and several other White House officials in February had their temporary security clearances downgraded after reports surfaced that a number of staffers had regular access to top secret U.S. documents despite only having interim clearances.
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