WASHINGTON, DC (Politico) — After weeks of delay, Donald Trump has finally agreed to let the FBI vet his Cabinet nominees. But as president, Trump can give anyone a security clearance, regardless of what the FBI turns up.
And security clearance experts say he might have no choice but to do just that, given that many of his picks for Cabinet posts and other high-level jobs have what the FBI would consider red flags in their personal backgrounds or professional records.
Take Pete Hegseth, Trump’s Defense secretary pick, who has reportedly abused alcohol and paid a financial settlement to a woman who accused him of sexual assault.
Or Tulsi Gabbard, his pick for national intelligence director, who has voiced sympathetic views of autocrats like Russia’s Vladimir Putin and took a secret trip to visit Syria’s Bashar al-Assad.
Or Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s choice to lead HHS, who has embraced conspiracy theories, including that Covid-19 was “ethnically targeted” to avoid harming Chinese people and Ashkenazi Jews.
Kash Patel, his selection for FBI director, too, has promoted conspiracy theories, most prominently those espoused by QAnon.
Once Trump takes office, he can give all of them — and anyone else he wants — a security clearance on Day One of his administration.
In recent years, presidential candidates have signed agreements for transition support with the existing administration before the election. They also must sign an agreement with the Justice Department to allow the FBI to conduct background checks and process security clearances for nominees and other high-level officials.
The Trump transition team spent more than a month haggling over those agreements before ultimately deciding last week to sign the White House agreement giving them access to federal agencies and, on Tuesday, reaching an agreement with DOJ on background checks.
