--- title: Trump Says He's Not Seeking Top Security Access for His Kids description: President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday denied trying to obtain top security clearance for his children. canonical: https://time.com/4572828/donald-trump-security-access-children/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-16T12:39:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:49:14.562Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Says He's Not Seeking Top Security Access for His Kids og:description: “This was a typically false news story" og:url: https://time.com/4572828/donald-trump-security-access-children/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt418f8bb4e14ff318/6988aea2cf40a8347dc45932/donald-trump-security-children.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: President-Elect Trump And Vice President-Elect Pence Meet With House Speaker Paul Ryan On Capitol Hill og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Says He's Not Seeking Top Security Access for His Kids twitter:description: “This was a typically false news story" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt418f8bb4e14ff318/6988aea2cf40a8347dc45932/donald-trump-security-children.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Denies Trying to Get His Children Top Security Access > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Donald Trump's Staff Picks [Watch (HLS stream): Donald Trump's Staff Picks](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/hxBwlUGs.m3u8) (1:53)  _Published 2016-11-13. Donald Trump’s campaign manager Kellyanne Conway is headed to the White House, where she’ll serve as counselor to the president._  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Nov 16, 2016 12:39 PM UTC  President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) at the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 10, 2016 in Washington, DC. President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) at the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 10, 2016 in Washington, DC. Zach Gibson—Getty Images  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Nov 16, 2016 12:39 PM UTC [President-elect Donald Trump](http://time.com/4572821/donald-trump-cabinet-finalists-transition/) on Wednesday denied attempting to obtain top security clearance for his children. Trump squashed a [recent report](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-team-seeks-top-secret-security-clearances-for-trump-children/) that claimed his team had been potentially seeking top-secret security level clearances from the White House for three of his children—Ivanka, Eric and Donald Jr.—as well as his son-in-law Jared Kushner. Trump placed all four on his transition team last week. “I am not trying to get ‘top level security clearance’ for my children,” Trump [wrote on Twitter](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/798850338384023552). “This was a typically false news story.” Trump did not specify whether that included Kushner. The president-elect also said in other tweets Wednesday morning that his transition is “going so smoothly” — dismissing reports [by the New York _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/16/us/politics/trump-transition.html) [and others](http://time.com/4572821/donald-trump-cabinet-finalists-transition/) of chaos behind the scenes as he attempts to build an administration. He added that he has been in contact with many foreign leaders, including those in Russia, the U.K., China, Saudi Arabia and Japan. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/798850338384023552) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/798861300453539840) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/798862483255652352) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4572828/donald-trump-security-access-children/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4572828/donald-trump-security-access-children/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Denies Trying to Get His Children Top Security Access","datePublished":"2016-11-16T12:39:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:49:14.562Z","description":"“This was a typically false news story\"","url":"https://time.com/4572828/donald-trump-security-access-children/","keywords":["White House"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt418f8bb4e14ff318/6988aea2cf40a8347dc45932/donald-trump-security-children.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt418f8bb4e14ff318/6988aea2cf40a8347dc45932/donald-trump-security-children.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President-Elect Trump And Vice President-Elect Pence Meet With House Speaker Paul Ryan On Capitol Hill","caption":"President-Elect Trump And Vice President-Elect Pence Meet With House Speaker Paul Ryan On Capitol Hill","creditText":"Zach Gibson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4572828/donald-trump-security-access-children/","name":"Donald Trump Denies Trying to Get His Children Top Security Access"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Donald Trump's Staff Picks","description":"Donald Trump’s campaign manager Kellyanne Conway is headed to the White House, where she’ll serve as counselor to the president.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/hxBwlUGs/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-11-13T23:25:01.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/hxBwlUGs.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4572828/donald-trump-security-access-children/","duration":"PT1M53S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4572828/donald-trump-security-access-children/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```