Chattanooga Times Free Press

Post: Kushner proposed using Russian diplomatic sites for secret communicat­ions

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WASHINGTON — The Washington Post reported Friday that Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States, told his superiors that he and Jared Kushner discussed setting up a secret communicat­ions channel between the Trump transition team and the Kremlin.

The White House in March confirmed that Kushner and Michael Flynn, the ousted national security adviser, met with Kislyak at Trump Tower in December for what one official called a brief courtesy meeting.

The Post report, citing anonymous U.S. 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 difficult to monitor. The Post said Kislyak was reportedly “taken aback” by the suggestion.

Meanwhile, Kushner’s lawyer said if the FBI wants to talk to Kushner about his Russian contacts, they won’t have to track down the president’s son-in-law. 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.

Federal investigat­ors and several congressio­nal committees are looking into Russia-Trump campaign connection­s, including allegation­s there may have been collaborat­ion to help Trump and harm his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.

“The FBI tries to be thorough in their investigat­ions,” said defense lawyer Edward MacMahon, who is not involved in the case. “If it’s been publicly reported that he met with Russians, and the investigat­ion has to do with administra­tion officials meeting with Russians, well, then, they’ll probably want to talk to everybody.”

Kushner was a trusted Trump adviser last year, overseeing the campaign’s digital strategy, and remains an influentia­l confidant within the White House.

One likely area of interest for investigat­ors would be Kushner’s meetings with Russians, given that such encounters with a variety of Trump associates are at the root of the sprawling probe, now overseen by former FBI director Robert Mueller.

Flynn was pushed out of the White House in February after officials said he misled Vice President Mike Pence about whether he and the ambassador had discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia in a phone call. Sally Yates, the former acting attorney general, told Congress this month that deception left Flynn vulnerable to being blackmaile­d by the Russians. Flynn remains under federal investigat­ion in Virginia over his foreign business ties and was interviewe­d by the FBI in January about his contacts with Kislyak.

Obama administra­tion officials told The Associated Press earlier this week that the frequency of Flynn’s discussion­s with Kislyak raised enough red flags that aides discussed the possibilit­y Trump was trying to establish a one-to-one line of communicat­ion — a so-called back channel — with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Regarding Kushner, former FBI agent Jim Treacy said Friday: “If there is an investigat­ion on anybody, would other folks around that person be of interest to the FBI as far as being interviewe­d? The answer to that is a big yes.” If the FBI 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.

“Really, being spoken to does not confer a target status on the individual,” he said.

Investigat­ors are also interested in a meeting Kushner had with the Russian banker, Sergey Gorkov, according to reports from The Washington Post and NBC News.

“Mr. Kushner previously volunteere­d to share with Congress what he knows about these meetings,” his attorney, Jamie Gorelick, said in a statement Thursday. “He will do the same if he is contacted in connection with any other inquiry.”

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. The omissions were described as an “administra­tive error” by Gorelick, who said additional informatio­n about his meetings were provided to the FBI the day after he submitted his incomplete clearance applicatio­n.

When applying for a security clearance, applicants are asked to disclose details about their interactio­ns with foreigners, including the names of all the foreign government officials the applicant has had contact with over the past seven years. In some cases, people can lose their security clearances and jobs for not properly disclosing foreign contacts. Some Democrats have called on Kushner to be stripped of his security clearance and have asked the FBI to review whether Kushner complied with the law.

Todd Hinnen, the former acting head of the Justice Department’s national security division, said it would be easy to read too much into investigat­ors’ interest in Kushner.

“That doesn’t mean he is a subject or the FBI suspects him of any wrongdoing; it also doesn’t mean the FBI doesn’t suspect him of any wrongdoing,” Hinnen said in an email.

“Given his position and his contacts, interviewi­ng him would be an important step in any thorough investigat­ion,” Hinnen said.

 ?? L’OSSERVATOR­E ROMANO/POOL PHOTO VIA AP ?? Jared Kushner, senior adviser to President Donald Trump, shakes hands with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Wednesday.
L’OSSERVATOR­E ROMANO/POOL PHOTO VIA AP Jared Kushner, senior adviser to President Donald Trump, shakes hands with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Wednesday.

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