Quigley’s got some questions for Kushner
WASHINGTON — Defending himself in public for the first time, Jared Kushner said he never colluded with Russia after meeting with the Senate Intelligence Committee staff on Monday. House Intel panel members— whose ranks include U. S. Rep. Mike Quigley, D- Ill.— will grill him on Tuesday.
The session, to start at 8 a. m. Chicago time, will be in a secure location in the Capitol and not open to the public.
“My priority is details of the Trump Jr. meeting with the Russians,” Quigley said when we talked in the Capitol on Monday.
Quigley referred to the June 2016 meeting Donald Trump Jr. hosted with a Russian lawyer tied to a drive to erode or repeal U. S. sanctions against Russia. That meeting included, for a time, Kushner and Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort.
A byproduct of Quigley’s membership on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence— and its investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election— has been to raise the national profile of the North Side lawmaker, who has become a frequent guest on cable shows discussing the probe.
Kushner, a senior White House adviser, and President Donald Trump’s in- law, was quizzed by Senate Intel panel staffers in a private session. He delivered brief remarks at the White House outside the WestWing afterward, the first time many have even heard him speak.
“Let me be very clear: I did not collude with Russia, nor do I know of anyone else in the campaign who did so. I had no improper contacts. I have not relied on Russian funds for my businesses, and I have been fully transparent in providing all requested information,” Kushner said.
Kushner is jumping ahead of the story to conclusions that his various contacts didn’t amount to much.
Before declaring how the story ends, first we need to know more about what happened.
The 11- page statement Kushner released through his attorney before he headed to Capitol Hill filled in blanks and put a lot more on the table— such as a meeting now- former Russia Ambassador to the U. S. Sergey Kislyak brokered between Kushner with Sergey Gorkov, the head of a Kremlin- linked Russian bank.
Quigley told me his questions would dive into more than what Kushner offered up in his statement, such as the basic, “Why did youmeet with the Russian banker?”
Quigley said there is more to be learned about why Kushner even entertained the notion that he go to the Russian embassy to get a secure line for a conversation.
Said Quigley, “You would assume that the Russian ambassador was laughing inside.”