Trump rails against leaks
Democrats question Kushner’s Russia ties
WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats on Sunday demanded to hear directly from top White House adviser Jared Kushner about allegations of proposed secret back-channel communications with Russia, saying the security clearance of President Donald Trump’s sonin-law may need to be revoked.
Mr. Trump, having returned from a nine-day overseas trip, immediately railed against administration leaks, calling them “fabricated lies,” in a flurry of tweets.
And his Homeland Security head defended the idea of establishing that kind of communication as a “smart thing” and said he didn’t see “any big issue here” for Mr. Kushner.
But to the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, it’s “obviously very concerning” that a key Trump campaign figure was possibly seeking secret communications with a country that intelligence experts say intervened in the 2016 election.
Rep. Adam Schiff of California said the government needed to “get to the bottom” of the matter and urged a review of Mr. Kushner’s security clearance
“to find out whether he was truthful.”
“If not, then there’s no way he can maintain that kind of a clearance,” Mr. Schiff said.
The Associated Press and other news organizations reported that Mr. Kushner in December proposed a back channel between the Kremlin and the Trump transition team.
Mr. Kushner spoke with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak about facilitating sensitive discussions to explore the incoming administration’s options with Russia as it developed its Syria policy.
The intent was to connect Mr. Trump’s chief national security adviser at the time, Michael Flynn, with Russian military leaders, a person familiar with the discussions told the AP. The person wasn’t authorized to publicly discuss private policy deliberations and insisted on anonymity.
Russia, a pivotal player in Syria, has backed Syrian President Bashar Assad, often at the expense of civilians and at odds with U.S. policy during Syria’s long civilwar.
The White House did not acknowledge the meeting or Mr. Kushner’s attendance until March.
At the time, a White House official dismissed it as a brief courtesy meeting.
Sen. Cory Booker, DN.J., a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, described the latest allegations involving Mr. Kushner as “serious” and called for a thorough investigation.
Lawyers for Mr. Kushner said he was willing to talk with federal and congressional investigators about his foreign contacts and his work on the Trump campaign.
The disclosure of the back channel put the White House on the defensive. Just back from visiting the Middle East and Europe, Mr. Trump on Sunday dismissed recent reports as “fake news.”
He added that it is “very possible that those sources don’t exist but are made up by fake news writers.”
Even when authorized, however, top officials in the Trump White House frequently request anonymity to brief reporters “on background,” meaning their names will not be disclosed.
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said he didn’t know if the news reports were true but described back-channel communications as a “good thing.”
“It’s both normal, in my opinion, and acceptable,” Mr. Kelly said. “Any way that you can communicate with people, particularly organizations that are maybe not particularly friendly to us, is a good thing.”
“I don’t see the big deal,” he added.
Mr. Trump is considering overhauling his White House staff and bringing back top campaign strategists, frustrated by what he views as his team’s inability to contain the burgeoning crisis involving the alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
A rally planned Thursday in Iowa was postponed due to “an unforeseen change” in Mr. Trump’s schedule.
While overseas, Mr. Trump’s longtime lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, joined a still-forming legal team to help the president shoulder the intensifying investigations into Russian interference in the election and his associates’ potential involvement.