john, alisyn. joe, thank you. toluse, ivanka trump on tv says my father had nothing to do with the security clearance. our reporting is he had everything to do with it. that s a tough look. yeah, it s hard to make a more definitive statement than ivanka trump made where she said president trump had nothing to do with either the security clearance of herself or with her husband. and now we re seeing reports not only from cnn but also from the new york times that both of those statements were false. president trump was actively involved and it s not hard to believe that the president would involve himself in this type of thing. back in early 2018 there were embarrassing stories about his daughter and son-in-law saying they couldn t get security clearance. so it s not hard to believe hes go involved. but why so many lies about it? why did his daughter deny it and the president deny it and why
haley, have been. he hasn t tweeted about it, or spoken about it, even though secretary of defense, u.s. ambassador to the u.n. have been very, very outspoken. this decision is a significant decision to expel 60 russian diplomats. you would think the president would at least tweet about it and say something. that s just it. when you compare how he deals with other countries, countries he is upset about, mexico, canada, in terms of trade, european union countries, who are very close allies of the united states, he s very happy to be critical of in public and on twitter and is reluctant to do that of russia. rob porter, who was removed and resigned in the face of allegations of marital abuse of two ex-wives, that the president still stays in touch with him, consults with him and may eventually, at some point down the road, would like to bring him back to the west wing even though he couldn t get security clearance. one of the ironies of
president, sets the president s schedule, controls the flow of paper across the president s desk. so to a certain extent he controls the president s access to information. we learned today rob porter has been doing that job all without being approved for a security clearance. which is for itself probably a bit of a scandal for a person who is seeing everything that crosses the president s desk. the reason why he couldn t get security clearance reportedly has to do with allegations of domestic violence from each of his two previous wives. the heez ase are allegations h denies, but the white house reportedly learned of last fall. and the fbi learned he had spoken to both of his exwives who boekt reportedly described to the fbi of his alleged abuse.
and i think with regard to bill clinton, it was important that he was saying 15 years ago, that he was supportive of gay rights, even if the congress wouldn t g along. and i do think there are two areas that bill clinton deserves credit. using his executive power. because we couldn t deal with the congress at that time. he revoked a 40-year-old policy that said that those of us who are gay or lesbian couldn t get security clearance. that was a serious problem for people, not just going to work for the government, but working for businesses that worked for the government. and he abolished that. secondly, and in terms of the international, he took the first step. if you were gay, overseas, and you were being persecuted, you were eligible for asylum. those were two very powerful things that were not just personal expressions. but beyond that, it is important that the president is a figure that people respect and when the president speaks out, it moves we re moving in the right
important. these people are trying to undermine it. in the california referenda in 2008, people were quoting barack obama s opposition at that point to same-sex marriage, in literature aimed at the black community. we have a very important referendum coming up this year in the state of amanmaryland, w the legislature got this, governor o malley took the lead, and same-sex marriage was approved. i was fearing that you would see people who were trying not to allow this to go forward, invoking president obama in the referendum. now they won t be able to do that. plus, that s it s also important what the president says. and i think with regard to bill clinton, it was important that he was saying 15 years ago, that he was supportive of gay rights, even if the congress wouldn t g along. and i do think there are two areas that bill clinton deserves credit. using his executive power. because we couldn t deal with the congress at that time. he revoked a 40-year-old policy that said that those o