Free Republic

Earlier this week, the Washington Post found the nerve to breathlessly lionize Tricia Newbold, an unelected bureaucrat bent on blocking the president’s access to trusted advisers. The Post announced that the “whistleblower told lawmakers that more than two dozen denials for security clearances have been overturned during the Trump administration.” These reversals include “the President’s daughter, her husband Jared Kushner and national security adviser John Bolton.” The story, like so many others, was dripping with innuendo against the president’s advisers but short on any actual misconduct that would justify denying security clearances.

A career official in the White House security office says dozens of people in President Donald Trump’s administration were granted security clearances despite “disqualifying issues” in their backgrounds, such as concerns about foreign influence, drug use and criminal conduct. Tricia Newbold, an 18-year government employee who oversees the issuance of clearances for some senior White House aides, says she compiled a list of at least 25 officials who were initially denied security clearances last year because of their backgrounds. But she says senior Trump aides overturned those decisions, moves that she said weren’t made “in the best interest of national...

Washington, April 14: A whispering campaign against Donald Rumsfeld has burst into the open with two generals who helped him plan the Iraq war denouncing his leadership and calling on him to resign. Major General John Batiste, who commanded a division in Iraq last year, became the fourth recently-retired general to attack the defence secretary for his handling of the war and demand new faces at the Pentagon. “I believe we need a fresh start at the Pentagon,” he told CNN, adding that many of his peers agreed. “It speaks volumes that guys like me are speaking out from retirement...

WASHINGTON – Crusty and unapologetic, Donald H. Rumsfeld is the public face of an unpopular war and a target of unrelenting criticism. A growing number of commanders who served under him say he has botched the Iraq operation, ignored the advice of his generals and should be replaced. The White House insists the defense secretary retains President Bush's confidence. Few close to the administration expect him to be shown the door. “The president believes Secretary Rumsfeld is doing a very fine job during a challenging period in our nation's history,” Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said Thursday as the administration circled...