Trump slams ‘fake news’ about Kushner
WASHINGTON : Returning home from a nine-day overseas trip, US President Donald Trump has plunged headlong into the ongoing Russia probe controversy, determined to defend his administration and his son-in-law Jared Kushner from its reach.
Trump started by lashing out against the coverage of the probe, tweeting, “It is my opinion that many of the leaks coming out of the White House are fabricated lies made up by the #FakeNews media.”
In another tweet, he wrote: “Whenever you see the words ‘sources say’ in the fake news media, and they don’t mention names it is very possible that those sources don’t exist but are made up by fake news writers. #FakeNews is the enemy!”
Trump then turned to the emerging focus of the controversy — his son-in-law. Trump said in a statement to The New York Times: “Jared is doing a great job for the country. I have total confidence in him. He is respected by virtually everyone and is working on programmes that will save our country billions of dollars. In addition to that, and perhaps more importantly, he is a very good person.”
Kushner has become a key figure in the controversy, with reports stating he asked Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak to set up a back-channel communication system between the Trump transition team and the Kremlin, run from Russia’s diplomatic facilities in the US in order to circumvent US monitoring.
While some attributed the request to naiveté of someone not familiar with how the government works, others have pointed to more dire implications, going so far as to suggest it could be treasonous if true.
While Trump has defended Kushner, his most trusted adviser, he is reported to have expressed dissatisfaction with him and his family, especially Kushner’s sister seeking investors at a roadshow in Beijing for a New Jersey housing project.
But Trump is unlikely to fire him, even as he considers a personnel shake-up that has long been the subject of much speculation. Knives are said to be out for Reince Priebus, the chief of staff, and Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary.