Stephen Colbert questions the White House security clearance process

Stephen Colbert followed up on a whistle blower’s report that security clearance denials were being overturned in the Trump White House.

National security should be the one area where politics and favoritism are set aside in favor of common sense and protecting the country. Yet that doesn’t seem to be the case in President Donald Trump’s White House according to Stephen Colbert.

Colbert spent time on Monday’s Late Show discussing a report by a White House employee that 25 security clearance denials were reversed. That should be alarming regardless of your political beliefs. It was especially alarming for Colbert who drew the conclusion that individuals who improperly received security clearances had to include Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner have been popular targets for Colbert’s Late Show. Ivanka’s interviews and Kushner’s White House demotion are just a couple of examples where Colbert turned his attention from President Trump to his daughter and son-in-law.

But while mocking them for those stories can be explained by Colbert’s outspoken opposition to everything Trump, the security clearances are a different issue. That shouldn’t come down to party or president but instead on what is best for the country. For Colbert, that is something the Trump White House doesn’t care about.

And as if the reversal of the denials wasn’t enough, we also find out that the woman who raised these concerns was suspended under suspicious circumstances. Tricia Newbold has worked under both Democrats and Republicans and by all accounts takes a professional and ethical approach to her job.

There are also reports that Newbold’s superiors attempted to humiliate her due to her dwarfism by placing security clearance files in the tops of drawers that would be out of her reach. It certainly doesn’t sound like the type of behavior in an office where everything is following protocol.

If you add it all up then this is at least one instance in which Colbert isn’t delivering “one-sided” material on the White House. Security clearances aren’t something to be taken lightly as they seem to be in the Trump administration.

The House Oversight Committee will be taking a look at the security clearance process but it is unlikely they’ll get much cooperation from the White House. That just serves as another red flag for Stephen Colbert to question when it comes to Donald Trump’s Washington, D.C.