29 May, 2017
Although Nance admitted that it is not known if the Russians "penetrated" the White House, he said we have to assume they have.
According to the person familiar with the Kushner meeting, the Trump team eventually felt there was no need for a back channel once Rex Tillerson was confirmed as secretary of state, and chose to communicate with Moscow through more official channels. "So we're not concerned about it".
That included Trump's statement that "this Russia thing" had been a factor in his decision to fire Comey, who was spearheading the FBI's investigation into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign; reports that Trump shared highly-classified intelligence with Russian officials; and reports that Trump asked Comey to drop the FBI investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn back in Feburary.
Kushner's plan - which never took effect - was meant to let the Trump transition team communicate privately with the Russian government on Syria and other issues, The New York Times reported Saturday.
He warned that "Russia is a dark cloud hanging over this administration" and urged the Trump White House to cooperate with the Russian Federation investigations because "they have to understand this administration is under siege, and will be, in terms of public opinion, and in terms of the law, until all these questions are answered".
"You've got the ambassador to Russian Federation reporting back to Moscow on an open channel", Graham said.
McMaster and Cohn are declining to comment on new revelations about Kushner communications with Russia's ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak.
Flynn is under federal investigation over his foreign business ties. The White House declined to comment on Friday night.
Mr Kushner is understood to be under scrutiny by the FBI as part of its wider investigation into Russian links.
The president's lawyers have urged Trump not to author adversarial Twitter messages or make off-the-cuff comments about the Russian Federation probe, explaining that those utterances could further hurt him if it seems as if he's trying to obstruct the investigation.
Reuters was first to report last week that a proposal for a back channel was discussed between Flynn and Kislyak as Trump prepared to take office.
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 28, 2017 Does anyone notice how the Montana Congressional race was such a big deal to Dems & Fake News until the Republican won?
Between 2012 and 2014, Vnesheconombank was used as cover for Russian spy Evgeny Buryakov as he attempted to recruit New York City residents as intelligence sources for Moscow, according to the Department of Justice. 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.
The ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, California Democrat Adam Schiff, has since called for a review into Kushner's security clearance in light of the meeting with Russian officials.
According to the person familiar with the Kushner meeting, the Trump team eventually felt there was no need for a back channel once Rex Tillerson was confirmed as secretary of state on February 1.
Former acting director of the CIA, John McLaughlin, said that if this report is true, "we'd consider it espionage".
White House chief strategist and former Breitbart leader Steve Bannon is reportedly spearheading the "war room" effort.
"The FBI tries to be thorough in their investigations", said defense lawyer Edward MacMahon, who is not involved in the case. He has no recollection of the calls as described.
The Post reported in April that Erik Prince, the founder of the private security firm Blackwater, now called Academi, and an informal adviser to the Trump transition team, met on January 11 - nine days before Trump's inauguration - in the Seychelles islands in the Indian Ocean with a representative of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
