29 May, 2017
President Donald Trump's top economic and national security advisers on Saturday declined to comment on the swirl of allegations that Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner is facing regarding his contacts with Russian officials.
Kelly, asked on ABC about the reported plan to use Russian equipment or facilities, said, "I don't know if all of that is true". But he said on "Fox News Sunday" that "any channel of communications back or otherwise with a country like Russian Federation is a good thing".
The top Democrat on the House intelligence committee is urging a review of White House adviser Jared Kushner's security clearance following news reports that he sought to set up back-channel communications with Russian Federation.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D., Calif.), ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said that leaks from the Trump administration to the press remain an "issue" and a "problem" which could pose a threat to US government sourcing.
Schiff said he expected Kushner, who serves as an unpaid adviser to Trump, to appear before his committee and suggested his security clearance be reviewed. Amid reports the FBI is scrutinizing Kushner's encounters, his lawyer says he stands ready to talk to federal investigators as well as Congress about his contacts and his role in Donald Trump's 2016 campaign.
Yet in a blizzard of tweets on Sunday, the president denounced the media's use of unnamed sources as "fake news", and again took aim at reporters as "the enemy".
"It is my opinion that numerous leaks coming out of the White House are fabricated lies made up by the #FakeNews media", Trump wrote in a series of Twitter posts on Sunday. He added: "Whenever you see the words "sources say" in the fake news media, and they don't mention names.it is very possible that those sources don't exist".
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.
Kushner, who organized the president's Middle East stops at the start of the foreign trip, chose to return to Washington with several days yet to go and has been unusually subdued since then.
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. Two people familiar with those 18 contacts said Flynn and Kushner were among the Trump associates who spoke to the ambassador by telephone.Mr Kushner has said he did not discuss sanctions with Mr Gorkov.Both those meetings have since been publicly acknowledged by the White House, but Kushner initially failed to declare them on forms submitted to obtain a security clearance.The Washington Post reported on Friday that, according to Kislyak's account of the conversation as he relayed it to his bosses in Moscow, Kushner proposed the private line during a meeting either on December 1 or 2 at Trump Tower.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.
McMaster and Gary Cohn, the director of the National Economic Council, swatted away the questions after reports surfaced that Kushner considered setting up a secret line of communication with Russian Federation to discuss military options in Syria and other matters.
Trump's private legal team, led by his NY lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, was preparing to meet in Washington to face fresh questions about contacts between Kushner and representatives of President Vladimir Putin of Russian Federation.
