Kelly Calls Maintaining Communication Channels With Russia 'a Good Thing'

Author

29 May, 2017

"I would just say that any line of communication to a country, particularly a country like Russian Federation, is a good thing", Kelly said in an interview with ABC News, published on Sunday.

The Washington Post reported Friday that Kushner, who serves as an adviser to Trump, met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in December to talk about setting up a secret communications channel between Trump's transition team and the Kremlin to discuss Syria and other diplomatic issues. "But I do think there ought to be a review of his security clearance to find out whether he was truthful, whether he was candid".

Schiff was particularly concerned about a Washington Post report that the back channel would have been conducted at a Russian diplomatic facility to avoid monitoring in USA communications systems.

"I will tell you that my dashboard warning light was clearly on, and I think that was the case with all of us in the intelligence community, very concerned with the nature of these approaches to the Russians", he said.

Wallace had to challenge him again, pointing out that the Trump transition was operated in a private capacity, not via the White House, and was a challenge to the work of the Obama White House.

The newspaper cited anonymous USA officials who were briefed on intelligence reports on intercepted Russian communications.

Graham called the report "stunning" and said Comey "needs to be held accountable".

Michael Flynn, the now-ousted former national security adviser, joined Kushner for the meeting with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

The California Democrat says it's a serious allegation to have a key Trump campaign figure seeking secret communications with a country that intelligence experts say intervened in a USA election. Kushner, a key White House adviser, had meetings late previous year with Russia's ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak, and Russian banker Sergey Gorkov.

In addition, Reuters reported that Kushner had at least three previously undisclosed contacts with Kislyak past year, including two phone calls between April and November. The disclosures dogged the president during his first trip overseas since taking office and threaten to overwhelm and stall the agenda for his young administration.

Trump aides traveling with the president in Europe have refused to address the contents of Kushner's December meeting with the Russian diplomat. More attorneys with deep experience in Washington investigations are expected to be added, along with crisis communication experts, to help the White House in the weeks ahead.

Federal investigators and several congressional committees are looking into any connections between Russian Federation and the Trump campaign, including allegations that there may have been collaboration to help Trump and harm his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.

The Democratic National Committee on Thursday called for Kushner's clearance to be suspended until the FBI completes its investigation into collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian agents accused of meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

The request from the committee arrived last week at campaign headquarters in NY, according to person familiar with the request who wasn't authorized to discuss the developments publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.


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