Trump’s Criminal Conviction Won’t Stop Him From Getting Security Clearance As President
BY DAKOTA RUDESILL ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF LAW, SENIOR FACULTY FELLOW, MERSHON CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL SECURITY STUDIES, THE OHIO STATE UN IVDERSITY Former President Donald Trump is the president-elect. He is also a convicted felon , thanks to a jury verdict after a trial in New York state court for a hush money conspiracy before he became president the first time. Normally, a president-elect gets access to highly classified information, including a version of the President’s Daily Brief on intelligence. And the sitting president has more access and authority over the nation’s secrets than anyone else. A criminal conviction, however, is a long-standing disqualifier for holding a security clearance – a license to access national security secrets, including documents marked Top Secret. Just being charged criminally can mean denial or loss of clearance too. Trump also was criminally charged in Georgia state court and the Washington, D.C., federal court in relation to his efforts to over
