Trump: Jared Kushner’s Security Clearance ‘up to General Kelly’
EXCERPT:
TRUMP: "Well Jared’s done an outstanding job. I think he’s been treated very unfairly. He’s a high quality person. He works for nothing just so nobody ever reports that, but he gets zero. He doesn’t get a salary, nor does Ivanka, who is now in South Korea, long trip, representing her country. And we can not get a better representative. In fact, the First Lady, Melania was telling me what a great impression she made this morning when she landed in South Korea. Jared is truly outstanding. He was very successful when he was in the private sector. He’s working on peace in the Middle East and some other small and very easy deals. They've always said, peace in the Middle East, peace between the Palestinians and Israel is the toughest deal of any deal -- there is. Now, I heard this all my life that as a former deal maker, or that now you could say maybe I’m more of a deal maker than ever before. You have no choice as president to do it right. But the hardest deal to make of any kind is between the Israelis and the Palestinians. We’re actually making great headway. Jerusalem was the right thing to do. We took that off the table. But Jared Kushner is right in the middle of that, and he’s an extraordinary deal maker. And if he does that, that will be an incredible compliment and a very important thing for our country. So General Kelly, who’s doing a terrific job, by the way, is right in the middle of that. We inherited a system that’s broken. It’s a system where many people have just — it’s taken months and months and months to get many people that do not have a complex financial, you know, complicated financials, they don’t have that and it’s still taken months. It’s a broken system. And it shouldn’t take this long. You know how many people are on that list. So, that will be up to General Kelly. General Kelly respects Jared a lot and General Kelly will make that call. I won’t make that call. I will let the general who’s right here make that call. But Jared’s doing some very important things for our country. He gets paid zero. Ivanka, by the way, gets paid zero. She gave up a very good, and very strong, solid big business in order to come to Washington, because she wanted to help families and she wanted to help women. She said, 'Dad, I want to go to Washington. I want to help women.' And I said, 'You know, Washington’s a mean place.' She said, 'I don’t care. I want to help women. I want to help families.' And she was very much involved, as you know, in the child tax credit. And now she’s working very much on family leave, things that I now think wouldn’t be in the agreement if it weren’t for Ivanka, and some of our great senators etc. But she was very much forefront of that. So I will let General Kelly make that decision. And he’s going to do what’s right for the country. And I have no doubt he’ll make the right decision. OK? Thank you very much."
