Stephen Colbert has some concerns about the Trump team overruling 25 denied security clearances

Stephen Colbert on Trump security clearance problem
(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/The Late Show)

If you don't have your security clearance yet, "you should apply, because evidently [President] Trump is handing those things out like very suspicious candy," Stephen Colbert said on Monday's Late Show. A White House whistleblower has told Congress that Trump's White House has overridden the security clearance denials of at least 25 officials. "Look, there's a reason you don't just give America's secrets to someone who was denied security clearance," he said. "Same reason if you go to buy a car, you check the Carfax: 'Huh, 2007 Nissan Sentra, 100,000 miles, and owes $10 million to Russian oligarchs. I don't think so.'"

"Career White House employee Tricia Newbold testified in Congress that the original denials were for a range of disqualifying issues, including foreign influence, conflicts of interest, concerning personal conduct, financial problems, drug use, and criminal conduct — which, fun fact, is also the motto on the bottom of the Trump family crest," Colbert joked. "It sounds classier in Latin."

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.