After claiming for months he had five years of experience as a congressional national security staffer with top-secret clearance, Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff has now admitted that he had clearance for just five months.
Since Ossoff announced his campaign to fill the seat vacated by Tom Price earlier this year, he has leaned on his supposed five years as a “national security aide with top-secret clearance.” The claim has been made in campaign ads, during campaign events, and even in his campaign announcement.
The Washington Free Beacon reported last week that Ossoff’s claim was dubious. Ossoff was a 19-year-old student at Georgetown University when he began working as a part-time staffer for Rep. Hank Johnson (D., Ga.), but security clearances are generally granted only to permanent staffers. He was not made a full-time staffer for another two years.
Ossoff’s campaign did not respond to Washington Free Beacon requests for more information about his time working in Johnson’s office, but provided local reporters with a timeline that shows Ossoff worked for just over two years as a full-time aide—and worked only five months with top-secret clearance.
