President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner has updated his security clearance form multiple times to disclose foreign contacts, several news outlets reported Friday, prompting speculation on why his form had been submitted before it was fully completed.
The most recently submitted form includes disclosures of more than 100 foreign contacts, CBS News reported, along with the now-infamous June 2016 meeting Kushner attended with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, along with Donald Trump Jr., then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and an additional Russian lobbyist.
Kushner had originally submitted his form, known as an SF-86, on Jan. 18 and disclosed no meetings with foreign government officials during the presidential campaign and transition.
Democrats including Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida have called for Kushner's security clearance to be revoked in light of the news about the June 2016 meeting.
Kushner's lawyers told Yahoo News that the omission of the meeting with Veselnitskaya was "inadvertent," and said a Kushner staffer had prematurely hit the "send" button on the SF-86 form before it had been fully completed.
But this explanation quickly triggered skepticism from critics and those familiar with SF-86 forms and their filing procedures.
1- Having filled out dozens of SF-86 Security Clearance forms and been interviewed numerous times as well, this is just BS.
— Price Floyd (@pricefloyd) July 14, 2017
Modern one can be signed electronically but it goes through several screens to make sure you want to submit. This is highly implausible
— Kirsten O'Nell (@ohkirsten) July 14, 2017
Note that the SF86 specifically instructs the applicant to review all answers for completeness and accuracy before signing. pic.twitter.com/b6f5z86vsZ
— Sam Bagenstos (@sbagen) July 14, 2017
According to instructions listed on the National Background Investigations Bureau's website, the form requires applicants to disclose whether they have had "close and/or continuing contact with a foreign national within the last seven years with who you, or your spouse, or cohabitant are bound by affection, influence, common interests, and/or obligation."
The form, which can be filed electronically, includes checkboxes for "Yes" or "No," and has a "Save" button below the question to preserve the answer.
The form must also undergo a certification process, meaning verifying "that all your answers are true and complete to the best of your knowledge," giving the applicant one more opportunity to make corrections or additions to the form.
The form can then be electronically signed and filed.
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