One of
President Donald Trump’s
most powerful officials, who is tasked with vetting staffers in his administration, hasn’t been fully vetted himself,
the New York Post exclusively reported
on Tuesday.
The White House personnel director, Sergio Gor, has not submitted official paperwork for his own background check needed for a permanent security clearance,
according to The Post
, citing multiple unnamed sources.
Three people close to the administration told The Post that Gor has yet to hand in his Standard Form 86, known as SF-86, which details over 100 pages of questions used to gain national security clearances. It asks about a person’s place of birth, all places lived, foreign contacts, family members, drug use and more.
“Among the questions applicants must answer under threat of criminal penalties is where they were born and whether they have any foreign connections,” The Post wrote.
While Gor has claimed to be from Malta, an official from the island country said they could not confirm his birthplace, saying “No acts are registered with the provided details.” Gor declined to answer when asked by The Post, noting instead that he was not from Russia.
“[An SF-86] is the first step in receiving a security clearance. Everyone — EVERYONE — fills one out, even if they’re not going into a role that will ultimately need an activated clearance [such as] random comms people, administrative staff [and] legislative affairs,” a source said.
Gor is responsible for selecting 4,000 staff members in the executive branch to enact Trump’s agenda. He looks at political donations, reads past social media posts and vets statements to ensure the hires are loyal to Trump.
Gor, who currently has interim security clearance, appeared to oppose the use of SF-86 when Trump was elected to his second term, having claimed he was worried that the “deep state” would interfere with the administration’s picks.
“He was actively working to convince everyone, including the lawyers, that the SF-86 was unnecessary and that Trump could just provide everyone with a clearance through his executive authority,” the same source said.
Gor
most recently pushed
Trump to reject a new leader of NASA, Jared Isaacman, who was backed by
tech billionaire Elon Musk
and founded a company with the world’s largest private air force. In a separate report,
The Post found
that Gor pledged “payback” for months against Musk, who has since
departed
from the administration, and relished when his electric vehicle company Tesla’s stock dropped.
The White House told The Post that Gor’s form has been “completed,” but did not indicate when Trump’s vetter-in-chief intends to submit it.
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