Washington (CNN) The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee said Sunday that President Donald Trump "has consistently been willing to override the advice of the intelligence community" on everything from his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner's security clearance to the deaths of Otto Warmbier and Jamal Khashoggi. "The whole idea that the President arbitrarily picks which family members to get security clearances, overriding the advice of the intelligence community -- but we shouldn't be surprised at that," Warner told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union." "This President has consistently been willing to override the advice of the intelligence community." Warner noted that Trump "does have a right to give anyone a security clearance," but added that "the fact that he in effect chooses to give a family member (a clearance) overriding the recommendations of the community bothers me a great deal." Warner also said Trump "seems to choose the word of dictators over the words of our intelligence community" and cited several examples from the past year.

Source: CNN March 03, 2019 14:56 UTC