No collusion with Russia: Kushner
WASHINGTON : The US President’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will tell a Senate committee he had four meetings with the Russians in 2016 but “did not collude…with any foreign government”, as Donald Trump sought to pressure Republicans by saying they were not doing enough to “protect their president”.
In a tweet just before Kushner was scheduled to testify in a closed-door meeting of the Republican-led Senate intelligence committee, Trump asked, “Why aren’t the committees and investigators, and of course our beleaguered A.G., looking into Crooked Hillary’s crimes & Russia relations?”
“Our beleaguered AG” is Jeff Sessions, who has been a target of Trump’s simmering ire, now in full public view after he unloaded on Sessions in a recent interview for recusing himself from the Russia probe. Trump has said the recusal was “extremely unfair…to the president”.
On Sunday, Trump tweeted, “It’s very sad that Republicans, even some that were carried over the line on my back, do very little to protect their President.” Though the precise reason for his gripe was not cited, the tweet followed one in which he spoke of the “phony Russian Witch Hunt”.
Both sets of tweets came just ahead of Kushner and his eldest son Donald Trump Jr appearing before Republican-led Senate committees for intelligence and judiciary, investigating alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election to help Trump win, something the president has continued to question.
“I did not collude, nor know of anyone else in the campaign who colluded, with any foreign government,” Kushner is expected to tell the intelligence committee in 11 pages of prepared remarks made available to US media outlets ahead of the testimony on Monday. “I had no improper contacts (and) I have not relied on Russian funds to finance my business activities in the private sector,” he would add. Kushner has admitted to four meetings with Russians, stressing they were not initiated or solicited by him or the Trump campaign or the transition team. He said none of the meetings “were impactful in any way to the election or particularly memorable”.