29 May, 2017
The idea to set up this secret channel of communications was discussed at Trump Tower during a meeting between Kushner, Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, and Michael Flynn, who later became National Security Adviser before he was sacked. Kushner "suggested using Russian diplomatic facilities in the United States for the communications", the Post reported, in an apparent attempt to try to shield discussions during the transition from monitoring.
The Post reported earlier that investigators are focusing on meetings he held in December with Moscow's ambassador and the head of a Russian bank that has been under USA sanctions since 2014. But they did not dismiss the idea that the administration would go outside normal US government and diplomatic channels for communications with other countries.
It's now clear, however, that Kushner's influence in the White House is rather impressive, as he was part of the President's delegation on his first foreign trip as president earlier this week. But officials said that it's unclear what Kislyak would have had to gain by falsely characterizing his contacts with Kushner to Moscow, particularly at a time when the Kremlin still saw the prospect of dramatically improved relations with Trump.
Is Jared Kushner the middleman between Russian Federation and the US responsible for Moscow's alleged meddling in the 2016 election?
To some officials, it also reflects a staggering naivete.
The disclosures put White House advisers on the defensive Saturday, as Trump wrapped up his first foreign trip as president, and led lawyers for Kushner to say he is willing to talk with federal and congressional investigators about his foreign contacts and his work on the Trump campaign.
"How would he trust that the Russians wouldn't leak it on their side?" said one former senior intelligence official.
While Kushner has yet to set the record straight about his meetings with high-level Russian officials, the FBI's interest in Trump's inner circle has caused quite a stir in Washington. The entire idea, he said, "seems extremely naive or absolutely insane".
The daily alleged that the discussion of a secret channel adds to a broader pattern of efforts by Trump's closest advisers to obscure their contacts with Russian counterparts. Trump's first national security adviser, Flynn, was forced to resign after a series of false statements about his conversations with Kislyak.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions also reportedly held meetings with the Russians which he omitted on security clearance forms. Mr. Kislyak discussed the proposal with his superiors in Moscow, and that conversation was intercepted by USA intelligence, the Post reported.
The request from the Senate Intelligence Committee arrived last week at campaign headquarters in NY.
H.R. McMaster said he's "not concerned" following reports that President Donald Trump's son-in-law and advisor Jared Kushner may have discussed setting up diplomatic backchannels to Moscow during the presidential transition. The transition team was looking for ways to establish a back channel to Putin, a source told CNN.
Trump's advisers were similarly secretive about meetings with leaders from the United Arab Emirates. Kushner is now the only current White House official known to the media to be considered a target of the Russian Federation probe.
Who leaked the information to the Washington Post's Ellen Nakashima that Kushner made this request of Kislyak, back in December of 2016?
The request from the Senate Intelligence 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.
Meeting with reporters in Sicily, two Trump advisers refused to address the contents of Kushner's December meeting with the Russian diplomat.
"I mean, we have back-channel communications with a number of - with a number of countries", McMaster said.
Separately, Reuters reported that Kushner had at least three contacts with Kislyak that hadn't been disclosed.
Ellen Nakashima is a national security reporter for The Washington Post.
Adam Entous writes about national security, foreign policy and intelligence for The Post. There was no immediate White House reaction. He covered President George W. Bush for five years after the September 11, 2001, attacks. He was among the Post reporters awarded the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for coverage of US surveillance programs revealed by Edward Snowden and a finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize.
