Did Donald Trump Request Top Secret Security Clearance for His Kids?

Donald Trump's team is denying reports that the president-elect requested top-secret security clearances for his children.

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Donald Trump's team is denying reports that the president-elect requested top secret security clearances for his children.

Reports surfaced Monday that Trump asked for top secret security clearance for his three oldest children, Ivanka, Eric, Donald Jr., and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who were all named to Trump's transition team last week. Trump's younger children, 23-year-old Tiffany and 10-year-old Barron, are not on the transition team, nor were they included in the reported requests for security clearance.

CBS News reported yesterday that Trump's children wouldn't necessarily have to be government officials to get top secret security clearances, but that nepotism rules wouldn't allow the president-elect to hire his kids to work in the White House. However, they would have to go through background checks and fill out a security questionnaire.

Of course, the possibility of Trump's kids getting top secret security clearance really freaked a lot of people out, especially since his children will take over the Trump Organization in January:

But Trump's team is now denying that any such requests were made. 

According to ABC News, a transition team member said Trump didn't request security clearances for his children, nor have they filed any paperwork for such clearances. "That's not something I'm expecting right now," the transition team member said.

According to the Washington Times, Trump's former campaign manager Kellyanne Conway also dismissed the reports on NBC's Today program. "I am not intimately aware of that particular line of questioning," Conway said. "I only know what I read, which is that the inquiries were made very informally." Regarding security questions, Conway added, "I think these are just regular inquiries among many that are made when folks are transitioning into a new administration." USA Today reports Conway told Fox News, "It doesn't sound like it was a formal request." With that said, Trump's children "will be there to support their father in informal capacities," Conway noted.

Trump's children have already said that they won't have formal positions in the government, and Ivanka told 60 Minutes on Sunday, "I'm going to be a daughter" rather than join the administration. 

​With that said, there could be a pretty obvious work-around for Trump and his kids:

So, yeah, there's that.

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