Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi wants to know if President Donald Trump’s personal debt could put the country’s national security and interests at risk, The Hill reports.
The Democrat lawmaker from Illinois wrote a pair of letters on Thursday to Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe and his predecessor Dan Coats.
The lawmaker, who serves on the House Intelligence Committee, asks whether Trump’s personal debts and loans could be exploited by foreign enemies. He referenced The New York Times recent report about the president’s tax returns. The newspaper claims that Trump has personal debts totaling more than $400 million.
"Some former intelligence officials have already weighed in on the manners in which these debts, combined with his ongoing international business interests, pose significant points of pressure and potential compromise for the President in dealings with foreign adversaries," Krishnamoorthi wrote.
"It is based on these revelations that I request that you share your assessment as to whether or not such financial vulnerabilities could compromise American public health and safety," he wrote.
He asked Ratcliffe and Coats whether significant personal debt for those working in national security increases their risk of being target by foreign adversaries, whether senior public officials with large sums of debt face an increased risk for counterintelligence, and whether such financial exposure would typically disqualify individuals from receiving a security clearance.
He asked for a response by Oct. 13.
His letter comes after some officials, including former FBI Director James Comey, have warned that a government official with significant personal debt could present a risk to national security.
During a Wednesday hearing, Comey told the Senate that a person’s debt is taken into account when they are reviewed for a security clearance.
"A person's financial situation could make them vulnerable to coercion by an adversary and allow an adversary to do what we try to do to foreign government officials we find are indebted, which is to try to recruit them to our side," Comey testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Trump has stated that he has paid millions in taxes and doesn’t have a large amount of debt compared to his assets.
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