A memo circulating in Donald Trump’s orbit says that if elected he should use private firms to check appointees’ backgrounds and give them immediate access to classified secrets after taking office.
This is exactly what you’d do if your circle was filled with Russian agents.
American and want to stop this? Vote for Harris & volunteer for her campaign
This is yet another example of our system fundamentally being incapable of dealing with someone like Trump willing to deviate from all established norms.
Legally, POTUS is the classifying authority. They can give clearance to whomever they want.
That’s worked mostly fine since the classification system was established in the early 1950s because the assumption has always been that POTUS isn’t wildly compromised and completely surrounded by compromised individuals.
Oops.