WASHINGTON _ Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz introduced two amendments on Thursday that would revoke Jared Kushner's security clearance, after revelations this week that Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser failed to disclose a meeting with a Russian lawyer who claimed to have dirt on Hillary Clinton.
Both amendments failed on a party-line vote after a debate in the House committee that determines federal spending.
"It should concern every American that Jared Kushner, son-in-law and senior adviser to the president, is reportedly among the main targets of the FBI's criminal investigation about the now evident collusion between Donald Trump's campaign in the hostile Russian government during the presidential election," said Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.
Wasserman Schultz's first amendment would prohibit federal funding for presidential security clearances for someone who is under a criminal investigation by a federal law enforcement agency for aiding a foreign government.
The second amendment bars funding for security credentials for anyone who "deliberately fails" to disclose a meeting with a foreign national if the disclosure is required as part of the individual's security clearance credentialing process.
"If you are the target of a federal criminal investigation for aiding a hostile government you simply can't be trusted with top secret information," Wasserman Schultz said.
In June 2016, Kushner met with a Russian attorney who offered information on Clinton, according to emails between Donald Trump Jr. and a music publicist.
Kushner's lawyers failed to disclose the meeting on his security clearance form. Knowingly omitting the meetings is a crime, but Kushner's lawyers say the omission was a non-intentional mistake.
"This is an intentionally narrowly drawn amendment," Wasserman Schultz said.
Donald Trump's digital operation during the campaign, headed by Kushner, is also under investigation by Congress and the Justice Department over whether the campaign helped to guide Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to a McClatchy report. Kushner is a senior Trump adviser who has access to classified information.
Wasserman Schulz was chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee until July 2016 when she resigned after leaked emails showed that she favored Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination for president.
Wasserman Schultz's amendments were inserted into the annual Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations bill during a markup on Thursday.
The amendments did not garner any Republican support.
