Kushner was operating for over a year with an interim clearance amid concerns over his foreign contacts and financial entanglements.
By MICHAEL WILNERUpdated: MAY 24, 2018 00:10US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman sits next to White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner as he speaks during the dedication ceremony of the new US embassy in Jerusalem, May 14, 2018(photo credit: RONEN ZVULUN / REUTERS)
WASHINGTON – Jared Kushner, who is leading a White House effort to jump-start peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians, has been granted security clearance after operating for months without it, US media outlets reported on Wednesday.Citing officials familiar with the matter, CNN did not detail Kushner’s level of clearance or what caused law-enforcement authorities to grant it. But The Washington Post reported that he had secured a permanent clearance.Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, was operating for more than a year with interim clearance amid concerns over his foreign contacts and financial entanglements.The news came hours after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declined to comment at a congressional hearing on Kushner’s ability to operate as a Mideast peace envoy without access to high-level, classified information.Kushner has been fashioning a plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace that his team says is all but complete, and it will be rolled out in the coming weeks and months “when the timing is right.”
