Steve Bannon is out of prison. How President Trump could get him a security clearance.

This was reported by The New York Times on Sunday, based on three sources close to the case memo currently circulating among Republican Donald Trump’s advisers recommends that if next week is elected, they should bypass the official background checks and grant security clearances to a large number of nominees. Alternatively, the proposal suggests that Trump end the FBI and hire private investigative firms to conduct background investigations. According to the Los Angeles Times, the idea behind this idea includes Boris Epshteyn, a trusted legal advisor. It is unclear whether Trump has seen the reported proposal, but if it is genuine, its very existence should worry Americans, even if it excites our foreign adversaries.

It is unclear whether Trump has seen the reported proposal, but if it is genuine, its very existence should worry Americans.

If Trump wins, our national security barriers could evaporate. It is unlikely that there is any official in his administration who would be able to tell him no. Additionally, his advisers, some of whom would have difficulty obtaining security clearances from the government, are reportedly plotting to allow Trump to grant security clearances to people who may not be qualified to have them.

Bypassing government background checks would be a direct violation established protocol this was updated last year in a document from the White House and the Department of Justice. The document requires the FBI to conduct background checks and investigations on White House appointees and staff and others who will provide services to the president or be recognized by him.

There’s a reason the FBI was given this assignment. First, the office is not just part of the Justice Department; is also a member of the United States intelligence community. This means that the FBI has the access and, importantly, the authorization and authority to conduct meaningful and comprehensive fact-finding. When necessary, the FBI can issue subpoenas, submit official requests to foreign governments, conduct highly specialized polygraph examinations, and use a variety of tools in its toolkit to assist the presidential administration in resolving an appointee issue.

A private entity whose compensation could depend on the outcome of its findings would likely have no such access or authority and would be blind to the nature of classified intelligence and ongoing criminal or national security investigations relating to appointees or job candidates. A private company would have little incentive to seek out and find offensive information that could disqualify someone from having a permit if it feared that Trump would react negatively to such findings.

A sham verification process could allow individuals who pose a threat to our country’s security to regularly access secret or top secret information. Given that this dangerous proposal would not serve our national security and that it is fraught with the potential for abuse and partisan fraud, what lies behind it? Self-interest. Trump’s cohort, the people he surrounds himself with and would likely choose to serve in his administration, would face significant hurdles in obtaining the necessary national security clearances. No more worries criminal records, honesty, foreign influence, character, reputation, finances, loyalty to the US and its known associates would disqualify many of Trump’s favorites.

There was Epsztejn charged in June in Arizona on election interference charges related to a fraudulent voter scheme. He pleaded not guilty. The 18 people charged in Arizona also include former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows. Giuliani and Meadows are there too similarly burdened in Fulton County, Georgia, RICO case. In my experience as a former FBI counterintelligence chief who has often spoken about the findings of investigations into the backgrounds of White House nominees, Epshteyn, Giuliani and Meadows faced an uphill battle to obtain security clearances. And these aren’t the only similarly situated Trump supporters he may want to serve during his next term.

Trump claims that if he wins, will bring it back his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who he pleaded guilty twice he lied to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian government but was later pardoned by Trump. Flynn probably wouldn’t be advised to get a security clearance again. Steve Bannon, Trump’s former political strategist, also has his own security problems. Bannon was released from federal prison On Tuesday, after serving four months for contempt of Congress in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol, Peter Navarro, a former economic adviser to Trump, completed his prison sentence in July after refusing to comply with Congress. Such convictions typically do not result in a security clearance from the White House.

In May, Trump said that Ken Paxton, Texas’ attorney general, was a “very talented guy” and that he would consider nominating him as attorney general. Paxton was indictedsubsequently acquitted by the Texas Legislature on bribery and corruption charges. Court documents suggest the FBI is investigating Paxton. None of this is good for someone who would need a wide range of security clearances to become the nation’s top law enforcement officer.

Trump says if he wins, he will reinstate his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.

Walt Nautaa naval valet who is known to bring a certain share a dozen Diet Cokes that Trump drank every daywas escorted from the White House by the Navy after allegations surfaced of sexual misconduct that included revenge porn. Later hired by Trump as a personal civilian adviser, Nauta heard the charges a grand jury found that he contributed to the mishandling of secret documents that Trump kept at his Mar-a-Lago, Florida, mansion. Special Advisor Jack Smith is an attractive US district Judge Aileen Cannon’s decision dismiss this case. Regardless of the outcome, Nauta can reportedly be seen in: video from security camera moving boxes of secret documents in an apparent attempt to hide them from investigators. Such evidence, independent of any criminal conviction, would seriously impact Nauta getting the security clearance he needs if Trump wanted him to throw soda into the White House again.

Trump cares more about loyalty to him than the safety of the nation. We’ve already learned how he limited the reinvestigation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. According to A Senator Sheldon Whitehouse’s reportDR.I., Trump handcuffed the FBI, dictating and limiting the interviews the agency could conduct to resolve allegations of sexual misconduct.

When Trump wanted his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in the White House, career government security clearance judges raised concerns about Kushner’s activities, connections and foreign contacts and denied him high-level clearance. But a new security inspector installed at the White House in 2017 rejected the expert opinion. In fact, the same supervisor revoked the permits an unprecedented 30 times.

We always expected that the heads of intelligence agencies would strongly oppose granting permission to people who pose a threat. But if Trump puts his loyalists in these security positions, there will be no one to stop the flow of classified data to Trump’s cadre of co-conspirators, and no one to dissuade him from declassifying it in order to hand it over. Because the agency directors themselves may be part of the palace guard.