Jared Kushner Had Undisclosed Contact With Russian Envoy, Say Sources – Mother Jones

Ned Parker and Jonathan Landay

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law and close adviser Jared Kushner had at least three previously undisclosed contacts with Russia's ambassador to the United States during and after the 2016 presidential campaign, seven current and former U.S. officials told Reuters.

Those contacts included two phone calls between April and November last year, two sources said. By early this year, Kushner found himself at the center of an FBI investigation into whether there was any collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin, two other sources, a current and former law enforcement official, said.

Kushner initially came to the attention of FBI investigators last year when they began scrutinizing former national security adviser Michael Flynn's ties to Russian officials, two sources said.

Although the FBI is investigating Kushner's contacts with Russia, he is not currently the target of that investigation, a current law enforcement official said.

New information about the two calls, as well as other details revealed by Reuters, shed light on when and why Kushner first came to the attention of the FBI and show that his contacts with Russian envoy Sergei Kislyak were more extensive than the White House has admitted.

NBC News reported Thursday that Kushner is under FBI scrutiny, the first sign that the investigation that began last July has reached the president's inner circle.

The FBI declined to comment, and the Russian embassy said it was policy not to comment on individual diplomatic contacts. The White House did not respond to requests for comment.

Multiple attempts to get comment from Kushner or his representatives were unsuccessful.

The White House said in March that Kushner and Flynn met with Kislyak in December at Trump Tower to establish a “line of communication.” Kislyak also attended Trump's campaign speech in Washington in April 2016, which was attended by Kushner. The White House has not acknowledged any other contacts between Kushner and Russian officials.

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Before the election, Kislyak's undisclosed talks with Kushner and Flynn focused on fighting terrorism and improving U.S.-Russian economic relations, six sources said. Former President Barack Obama imposed sanctions on Russia after it seized Crimea and began supporting separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014.

After the Nov. 8 election, Kushner and Flynn also discussed with Kislyak the idea of ​​creating a secret channel between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin that could bypass diplomats and intelligence agencies, two sources said. Reuters was unable to determine how these discussions were conducted or when exactly they took place.

Reuters was the first to report last week that the secret channel proposal was discussed between Flynn and Kislyak as Trump prepared to take office. The Washington Post was the first to report Friday that Kushner was involved in the conversation.

In addition, in the seven months leading up to the Nov. 8 presidential election, there were at least 18 undisclosed calls and emails between Trump associates and people linked to the Kremlin, including six calls with Kislyak, sources told Reuters earlier this month. . Two people familiar with the 18 contacts said Flynn and Kushner were among the Trump associates who spoke with the ambassador on the phone. Previously, Reuters reported only about Flynn's participation in these discussions.

Six of the sources said there were several contacts between Kushner and Kislyak, but declined to provide details beyond two phone calls between April and November and a post-election conversation about creating a back channel. It is also unclear whether Kushner communicated with Kislyak on his own or with other Trump aides.

HOW KUSHNER came under scrutiny

The FBI's review of Kushner began when intelligence reports about Flynn's contacts with Russians included references to US citizens whose names were redacted due to US privacy laws. This prompted investigators to ask US intelligence agencies to release the names of the Americans, a current US law enforcement official said.

Kushner's name was one of the names revealed, prompting a closer look into the president's son-in-law's relationships with Kislyak and other Russians, the official said.

FBI investigators are looking into whether the Russians suggested to Kushner or other Trump aides that easing economic sanctions would allow Russian banks to offer financing to people linked to Trump, a current US law enforcement official said.

The head of Russia's state-owned Vnesheconombank, Sergei Nikolayevich Gorkov, a trained intelligence officer appointed by Putin, met with Kushner at Trump Tower in December. The bank is under US sanctions and was implicated in a 2015 espionage case in which one of its New York executives pleaded guilty to espionage charges and was jailed.

The bank said in a statement in March that it met with Kushner along with other representatives of US banks and businesses as part of the preparation of a new corporate strategy.

Officials familiar with intelligence about contacts between the Russians and Trump advisers said they had not yet seen evidence of any wrongdoing or collusion between the Trump camp and the Kremlin. Moreover, they say, nothing has yet been found that indicates that Trump authorized these contacts or even knew about them.

There may have been nothing reprehensible in the contacts, the current law enforcement officer emphasized.

In March, Kushner offered an interview with the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is also investigating Russian efforts to interfere in last year's election.

Contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russian officials during the presidential campaign coincided with what U.S. intelligence agencies concluded was an attempt by the Kremlin to use computer hacking, fake news and propaganda to boost Trump's chances of winning the White House and damage his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.

(Reporting by Ned Parker and Jonathan Landay; Additional reporting by John Wolcott, Warren Strobel and Phil Stewart in Washington; Editing by Kevin Krolicki and Ross Colvin)