The Trump transition has begun — and it’s even stranger than the first time around | The Independent

To start, a 501(c)(4) organization, named for the section of the Internal Revenue Code that authorizes such “social welfare” organizations, aren’t required to publicly disclose their donors. And by keeping the transition off of any official government email systems, the Trump team can evade having their emails requested by any Democratic or nonpartisan transparency groups under the Freedom of Information Act. …

Reporting from The New York Times and other outlets has also indicated that Trump and his team are strongly considering skipping the process by which administration officials normally obtain security clearances after FBI background checks. Instead, Trump aides have reportedly argued for the president-elect to unilaterally grant clearances to top aides based on private background investigations done by a firm contracted by the transition. …

Because security clearances are an executive function, the president can grant anyone a clearance at any level for any reason, even over the objections of the national security professionals who assess whether a given individual can be trusted with the nation’s secrets. And as an elected official, Trump himself is exempt from clearance requirements despite his long and documented history of mishandling and allegedly unlawfully retaining national defense information.