Election furore takes new turn

SECRET COMMUNICATIONS LINE Trump, just back from Europe, again in firing line.

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.

The latest furore was stirred up after The Washington Post reported 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, bug-proof link with the Kremlin.

Kushner, 36, even suggested using Russian diplomatic facilities in the United States to protect such a channel from monitoring, the paper said, quoting US officials briefed on intelligence reports.

The report, if confirmed, would raise new questions about the Trump team’s relationship with the Russians, who US intelligence agencies say tried to sway the November election in Trump’s favour.

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 advisor Steve Bannon and White House chief-of-staff Reince Priebus.

Trump returned to Washington on Saturday night from his first overseas trip, to the Middle East and Europe.

“We’re not going to comment on Jared, we’re just not going to comment,” said Gary Cohn, Trump’s chief economic advisor, during a press conference in Italy.

National security advisor 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.

Former CIA director John Brennan revealed last week that intelligence chiefs had been looking into suspicious contacts between Trump campaign associates and Russian officials since mid-2016.

Trump has denied any collusion with Russia, calling the probe “the greatest witchhunt” in American political history. – AFP