An opinion piece in the Times notes that in both the Obama and Bush administrations cabinet and court nominees were required to divulge their tax returns:
In both the Bush and Obama administrations, a bad attitude about paying taxes was a deal killer. Both of us saw instances of nominations that were doomed by the arguably legal but unsavory use of tax loopholes, as well as by the failure to pay Social Security taxes, the taking of excessive deductions for home offices or the sidestepping of sales taxes on out-of-state purchases. Explaining to the Senate and to the American people how a billionaire could have a $916 million “loss carry-forward” that potentially allowed him to not pay taxes for over a decade, perhaps for as long as 18 years, would have been far too difficult for the White House when many hard-working Americans turn a third or more of their earnings over to the government.Furthermore, most nominees -- especially those nominated to sensitive national security positions -- are vetted by the FBI to make sure they don't have any serious conflicts of interests or skeletons in the closet that could be used to blackmail the nominee once in office.
When I was a senior in college I briefly considered working for the CIA because of my language background (my sister- and brother-in-law had long careers as translators there). One of the strangest questions on the application was, "Have you ever used heroin?" It seemed crazy that they'd ask this on a form, because it seems to be automatically disqualifying. Who would tell the truth?
But it isn't a deal-breaker. Since they do a background check, they're likely to find out if you're lying. When you tell the truth you get credit for not being deceptive: if your positive assets outweigh the negatives of your drug history, they'll still hire you.
The FBI does extensive background checks on cabinet and court appointees, but also deputy positions in executive departments, NSA analysts, and even low-level translators working for the CIA. CIA applicants are submitted to polygraph tests during their interview, and regularly during their course of employment (my brother-in-law says he always failed his polygraph, but he's still contracting back to the CIA).
Yet we don't thoroughly check out all presidential candidates. This person will have access to the most sensitive information there is, including the nuclear codes. You'd think the FBI should get involved here.
One of the candidates, in fact, has already been thoroughly vetted by the FBI. And Congress. Multiple times. All investigations, even the ones conducted by the most partisan hacks, found there were no crimes were committed. Yes, she's made some mistakes but she has copped to them.
In an interesting development Michael Chertoff, the former Homeland Security director under George W. Bush, has endorsed Hillary Clinton. This is odd not just because Chertoff is a Republican, but because he was the special counsel in the Whitewater investigation of the Clintons in the 1990s. As senator Clinton voted against Chertoff for positions that required Senate approval.
And yet Chertoff has endorsed Clinton for president. The guy who looked through all Clinton's dirty laundry still thinks she should be president.
The other candidate is constantly deceptive: Donald Trump routinely denies saying things that have been recorded on video and replayed on television over and over. He flatly lies about everything.
He has known ties to the Russian mob, East Coast organized crime, and Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs. He broke the Cuban embargo. He illegally hired aliens for his modeling agency. He abuses the H1B visa program, giving hotel jobs to foreigners instead of Americans. He refuses to release his tax returns, which are essential to determine if he has any disqualifying conflicts of interests -- like, say, being in hock to a foreign bank for half a billion dollars.
Donald Trump even pleaded the Fifth 97 times during his divorce proceedings.
It's clear that the CIA would never someone with Donald Trump's resume and his propensity for blatant deception. Just ask Michael Chertoff, the guy who the director of the CIA reported to: he wouldn't hire Trump.
Why should the person the Homeland Security director reports to be held to a lesser standard than the lowest level employee in the agency?
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