GOP compromises national security to protect Trump son-in-law

On Thursday, Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee voted unanimously to block two amendments to address members of the Trump administration who are under investigation for possibly conspiring with Russia, particularly Trump’s son-in-law and close adviser, Jared Kushner.

The first amendment would have prohibited funding for “a security clearance for any individual in a position in the Executive Office of the President who is under a criminal investigation by a Federal law enforcement agency for aiding a foreign government.”

It was reported in May that the FBI is investigating Kushner as part of its broader investigation of possible collusion with Russia.

The second amendment, which Republicans also blocked, would have specifically revoked the security clearance of “White House staffers who deliberately fail to disclose meetings with foreign nationals or governments on their questionnaire for national security positions.”

That would almost certainly apply to Kushner. He has updated his own disclosure form three times to add more than 100 foreign contacts he supposedly “forgot” to disclose as part of his security clearance. He, like more than half a dozen current or former members of Trump’s team, held secret meetings with high-level Russian officials, or Russians with close ties to the government, none of which were disclosed.

Absurdly, Texas Republican Rep. John Culberson defended his party by saying, “This is already the law,” and insisting that the amendment were “simply a political stunt and utterly unnecessary.”

However, it does seem necessary, given the number of people associated with Trump who have lied about secret meetings with Russians.

On Thursday, for example, in belated response to a court order, the Department of Justice released a one-page document showing that Attorney General Jeff Sessions had marked “no” in response to a question about contacts with foreign officials, when, in fact he did. He not only lied to the FBI about it, but he lied under oath during his Senate confirmation hearing as well.

In the last week, we have learned that Kushner, along with Donald Trump Jr., met with a Kremlin-linked attorney, specifically to obtain “obviously very high level and sensitive information” that was “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.” During a bizarre interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, Trump Jr. admitted he had probably met with other Russians as well.

While Trump Jr. is not officially a member of his father’s administration, Kushner is. Given Kushner’s own admissions, the ongoing investigations into his activities on behalf of the Trump campaign, and the mountain of evidence that several members of Trump’s inner circle held meetings with high-level Russians and lied about it, revoking Kushner’s security clearance seems like an obvious and nonpartisan act to protect America’s national security.

But when it comes to Trump, Republicans have shown again and again that protecting him and his family, and their majority, is more important than protecting the country.