Exactly. His excuses are weak and easily disproven for why he won’t get clearance, so it’s more looking like he has something to hide, like maybe he won’t clear the required background check.

Besides, becoming a PM means you automatically get clearance without a background check (Carney didn’t need to, but getting a background check was just being cheeky, and frankly fun), so trying to get the job entirely goes against his own words.