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

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."

There are at least "two current senior White House officials on the list, though their names were not disclosed, Colbert said, making a guess. "And now the House Oversight Committee's requesting security clearance documents on nine individuals," including vanka Trump, Jared Kushner, and National Security Adviser John Bolton, who got a security clearance despite "his years of using his upper lip to smuggle exotic pets," he joked. You can watch that fetching graphic and learn about the retaliation Newbold has faced at work below. Peter Weber

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