Trevor Noah and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tag-team Trump on dangerous security clearance shenanigans

Before the House Oversight Committee voted Tuesday to subpoena the White House for interviews and records pertaining to its security clearance practices, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) explained the importance of getting answers.

White House security clearance staffer Tricia Newbold told the committee that President Trump and his team approved security clearances for at least 25 officials deemed security risks, and Ocasio-Cortez also noted that Jared Kushner has reportedly communicated with world leaders via WhatsApp. "Every day that we go on without getting to the bottom of this matter is a day that we are putting hundreds if not potentially thousands of Americans at risk," AOC said. "I mean, really, what is next, putting nuclear codes in Instagram DMs? This is ridiculous."

"Well, look at that, the Trump administration being careless with national secrets," Trevor Noah said at The Daily Show. "When I heard this story first, I thought it's actually great that everyone in the White House is getting a security clearance," so they can know if Trump is just making stuff up, he said. "Because Trump might say he got his intel from the CIA, but it could also be from a random tweet. He'd just be like, 'I've got top secret information that AOC stands for America On Cocaine — that's her plan, folks.'" The details changed his mind.

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If anybody gifted a security clearance has "a criminal or an embarrassing secret, you could be blackmailed by a foreign government, and then you have to do whatever they say," Noah noted. Of course, "Trump and his people haven't been serious about national security from the beginning, right? Trump makes phone calls on an unsecured line. He's the same guy who told the Russians Israeli secrets that compromised anti-terror efforts. ... But overriding security clearances might be the worst transgression yet — which is probably why Trump lied about doing it."

"Maybe the worst part of this whole thing," though, is that the White House is retaliating against Newbold "like a bunch of middle school bullies," Noah said. Watch his solution below. Peter Weber