Russia probe pierces Trump
Report on Kushner’s request for secret line with Kremlin most damning detail so far
WASHINGTON— The probe into Russia’s role in the US election pierced the innermost circle of the White House on Saturday, with reports that Donald Trump’s son-in-law sought a secret communications line with Moscow—the most damning allegation yet from the scandal.
With the president now back in Washington after a grueling overseas trip, the latest furor was stirred up after The Washington Post reported late on Friday that Jared Kushner—arguably Trump’s closest White House aide, and husband to the president’s eldest daughter Ivanka—made a pre-inauguration proposal to the Russian ambassador to set up a secret, bugproof link with the Kremlin.
Kushner, 36, even suggested using Russian diplomatic facilities in the United States to protect such a channel from monitoring, The Post said, quoting US officials briefed on intelli- gence reports.
The report, if confirmed, would raise new questions about the Trump team’s relationship with the Russians, who US intelligence agencies said tried to sway the November election in Trump’s favor.
New team
News reports said the White House, reeling from the explosive developments in the long-running Russia saga, is creating a new rapid-fire communications unit to respond to the controversy, led by Kushner, senior presidential adviser Steve Bannon and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus.
White House officials declined to comment on Saturday.
Trump returned to Washington on Saturday night from his first overseas trip, to the Middle East and Europe. Accompanied by first lady Melania, Trump waved to reporters as he made his way into the White House but made no comment.
“We’re not going to comment on Jared, we’re just not going to comment,” said Gary Cohn, Trump’s chief economic adviser, during a press conference in Italy as a Group of Seven (G7) summit wound down.
National Security Adviser HR McMaster refused to talk about the allegations. But he said that in general “we have backchannel communication with a number of countries. What that allows you to do is communicate in a discreet manner.”
“I would not be concerned about it,” he added.
Sinister
But a former head of the US National Security Agency harshly condemned Kushner’s alleged effort to set up a secret communications line, saying if it’s true, it would reveal a dangerous degree of ignorance or naivete.
“What manner of ignorance, chaos, hubris, suspicion, contempt would you have to have to think that doing this with the Russian ambassador was a good or appropriate idea?” Michael Hayden said on CNN.
He said he leaned toward “naivete” as an explanation, though he did not find it comforting.
Malcolm Nance, a retired naval officer and expert on terrorism and intelligence, said: “This is now sinister. There is no way this can be explained, from the intelligence perspective.”
“That is indicative of espionage activity of an American citizen that is working in league with a hostile government,” he told MSNBC.
The Washington Post said Kushner’s secret communications proposal was made December 1 or 2 at Trump Tower in New York, according to in- tercepts of Russian communications that were reviewed by US officials.
Comey coming out
Michael Flynn, who was Trump’s national security adviser for just 24 days before being fired amid questions about meetings he held with the Russian ambassador, was also present, the newspaper reported.
The Post said the Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergei Kislyak, was surprised by the future White House aide’s proposal and passed it on to the Kremlin.
The New York Times said the channel was never established.
Trump returned to Washington to face a cascade of other worries related to the Russia probe in the coming days, including expected testimony by fired former FBI Director James Comey before a Senate committee.