27 May, 2017
The Washington Post is reporting that Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, discussed with Russia's ambassador to Washington the possibility of setting up a secret communications channel between the Trump transition team and the Kremlin.
The Post's sources said Ambassador Sergei Kislyak reported to his superiors in Moscow that Kushner made the proposal during an early-December meeting at Trump Tower in New York City.
The Post report, citing anonymous US officials who were briefed on intelligence reports on intercepted Russian communications, said Kislyak told his superiors that Kushner proposed using Russian diplomatic facilities for their discussions, apparently to make them more hard to monitor.
The newspaper says Ambassador Sergei Kislyak told his superiors that Kushner proposed using Russian diplomatic facilities for their discussions, apparently to make them more hard to monitor.
However, Washington Post reporter Adam Entous said there is a chance that Russian Federation could have intentionally exaggerated what happened in the meeting. The meeting was also attended by Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser.
The FBI's investigation into Russian involvement in the 2016 election is looking at Kushner's multiple roles in the Trump administration, CNN reported Thursday.
While the FBI is investigating Kushner's contacts with Russian Federation, he is not now a target of that investigation, the current law enforcement official said.
Kushner's attorney, Jamie Gorelick, said Kushner did not remember any calls with Kislyak between April and November. The Washington Post was first to report on Friday that Kushner participated in that conversation. If the Federal Bureau of Investigation wants to speak with someone, it's not necessarily an indication of involvement or complicity, said Treacy, who did two tours in Moscow as the FBI's legal attache.
The news agency anonymously cited current and former USA officials.
Another potential line of inquiry could concern Kushner's failure to disclose some of his contacts with Russian government officials when he was filling out his application for a security clearance. "He has no recollection of the calls as described", Gorelick said in a statement to CNN.
The FBI regularly monitors the communications of Russians officials in the USA and maintains constant surveillance of its diplomatic facilities.
The bank said in a statement in March that it had met with Kushner along with other representatives of US banks and business as part of preparing a new corporate strategy. "Sometimes they do so in order to see if the Americans are in that channel". Moreover, they said, nothing found so far indicates that Trump authorized, or was even aware of, the contacts.
"There may not have been anything improper about the contacts", the law enforcement official told Reuters.
Kushner offered in March to be interviewed by the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is also investigating Russia's attempts to interfere in last year's election. Those investigations include allegations that there may have been collaboration to help Trump and harm his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.
