President Donald Trump’s son-in-law says he only had four contacts with Russians during the presidential campaign and transition and that none of them were improper.
Jared Kusher also says he never colluded with any foreign government during the presidential campaign. He also is denying that Russians finance any of his business in the private sector.
Kushner disclosed the information in an 11-page statement provided to The Associated Press. The release of the statement came just hours before he was to be interviewed by a Senate committee investigating Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election and any possible collusion by Trump associates.
Kushner, who is a senior adviser to the president and is married to Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, will talk to staff on the Senate intelligence committee Monday behind closed doors. On Tuesday, he’ll talk privately to members of the House intelligence committee.
Both panels are investigating Russian interference and possible connections to Trump’s campaign. Kushner has attracted attention for a December meeting with a leading Russian diplomat. He oversaw digital strategy for the campaign, and some lawmakers have said they want more answers about whether Russian social media “trolls” were connected to Trump’s election efforts.
Kushner also attended a June 2016 meeting with Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., and his former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and a Russian lawyer who Trump Jr. was told had damaging information about election rival Hillary Clinton. Congressional investigators have said they are interested in learning more about the meeting and want to talk to those who attended.
Abbe Lowell, a lawyer for Kushner, said ahead of the meetings that Kushner “has been and is prepared to voluntarily co-operate and provide whatever information he has on the investigations” to Congress.
“He will continue to co-operate and appreciates the opportunity to assist in putting this matter to rest,” Lowell said.
California Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House intelligence panel, said on CBS’s Face the Nation Sunday that lawyers for Kushner had said they would make him available for two hours so “we expect this is just going to be the first interview” of the president’s son-in-law. He said the panel will have many questions for him.
Schiff says he wants to know more about the June 2016 meeting and a separate meeting Kushner had with the top executive of Russia’s state-supported VEB bank.
‘We have a lot of ground to cover’
“We want to know whether those meetings took place, whether other meetings took place, we have a lot of ground to cover,” Schiff said.
Trump Jr. and Manafort were also scheduled to testify before the Senate judiciary committee this week but avoided the public spectacle late Friday as their attorneys were in negotiations with that panel. The two men are now in discussions to be privately interviewed by staff or lawmakers, though the Republican chairman of the committee, Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, has said they will eventually testify in public.
The president took to Twitter over the weekend to defend himself and repeat his criticism of the investigations. On Sunday, Trump tweeted: “As the phony Russian Witch Hunt continues, two groups are laughing at this excuse for a lost election taking hold, Democrats and Russians!”
As the phony Russian Witch Hunt continues, two groups are laughing at this excuse for a lost election taking hold, Democrats and Russians!
