Trump returns to D.C. amid crisis over Kushner report
White House is preparing plan for damage control
President Donald Trump headed home Saturday to confront a growing political and legal threat, as his top aides tried to contain the fallout from reports that his sonin-law, Jared Kushner, is a focus of investigations into possible collusion between Russia and the president’s campaign and transition teams.
As Mr. Trump ended a nine-day overseas trip that aides considered the most successful stretch of his presidency, he was returning to a crisis that had only grown in his absence. The White House canceled a presidential trip to Iowa in the coming days and was putting together a damage-control plan to expand the president’s legal team, reorganize his communications staff and wall off a scandal that has jeopardized his agenda and now threatens to engulf hisfamily.
Mr. Trump’s private legal team, led by his New York lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, was preparing to meet to face questions about contacts between Mr. Kushner and representatives of President Vladimir Putin of Russia. Aides have recruited a series of prominent Washington lawyers with experience in political investigations for Mr. Trump to interview in hopes they might join the legalteam.
Mr. Kushner, who organized the president’s Middle East stops at the start of the foreign trip, chose to return to Washington with several days to go and has been unusually subdued since then. But he has no plans to step down from his role as senior adviser or to reduce his duties, according to people closeto him.
Still, there are signs that he is tiring of the nonstop combat and the damage to his reputation. He has told friends that he and his wife, Ivanka Trump, have made no long-term commitment to remain by Mr. Trump’s side, saying they would review every six months whether to return to private life.
Mr. Kushner’s troubles are only one facet of the crisis. Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff, and Stephen Bannon, the president’s chief strategist, alsodropped off Mr. Trump’s trip early, in part to return to deal with the political furor over the Russia investigations and the president’s decision to fire James B. Comeyas FBI director.
The White House was trying to figure out how to respond to reports that Mr. Kushner had spoken in December with Russia’s ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, about establishing a secret channel between his fatherin-law’s transition team and Moscowto discuss the war in Syria and other issues. The Washington Post first reported on the suggestion Friday, and three people informed about it confirmed it toThe New York Times.
The discussion took place at Trump Tower at a meeting that included Michael Flynn, who served briefly as Mr. Trump’s national security adviser until being forced out when it was revealed that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence and others about a separate telephone conversation he had with Mr. Kislyak. It was unclear who proposed the secret communications channel,but the idea was for Mr. Flynn to speak directly with a Russian military official. The channel was never set up.
As reports emerged about investigators’ focus on Mr. Kushner, he and Ms. Trump discussed the possibility of havingDonald F. McGahn II, the White House counsel, issue a statement denying that Mr. McGahn had been contacted by federal officials about Mr. Kushner. Mr. McGahn, who has been uneasy in his role since Mr. Trump ignored his advice to delay Mr. Comey’s dismissal, said he was not the person to write such a statement, suggesting that doing so would create a precedent requiring a response to each new report. Mr. Kushner’s private lawyer issued a statementinstead.
Ms. Trump and Mr. Kushner have complained privately about what he views as an unfair level of scrutiny of his actions. He has dismissed the attention on him as a reflection of his father-in-law’s unconventional approach to diplomacy and inexperience in government, rather than of anything nefarious he has done. People close to Mr. Kushner, who had lunch with Mr. Priebus on Friday and who projected an air of calm, were adamant that he was preparing for a long fight and not an exit from theWhite House.
The reports about Mr. Kushner dominated an endof-trip briefing for reporters in Taormina, Italy, where Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, the president’s national security adviser, and Gary D. Cohn, his top economic adviser, declined to comment specifically on Mr. Kushner but sought to play down the significance of the disclosures.
“We have back-channel communications with any number of countries,” Gen. McMaster said. “So, generally speaking, about backchannel communications, what that allows you to do is to communicate in a discreet manner. It doesn’t predispose you to any kind of contentin that conversation.”