Jared Kushner tries to dismiss evidence over meetings with Russian officials and failure to disclose them


Developments on Day 186 of the Trump Administration:

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Kushner: I Did Not Collude With Russia

In questioning by staff members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Donald Trump’s son-in-law and White House advisor Jared Kushner denies collusion with Russia.

No transcript of the closed-door session was released, but Kushner put out an 11-page statement before the meeting and then made a brief appearance at the White House afterwards.

Kushner held the line on a series on issues: his involvement in discussions with Russian officials during the Trump campaign and transition, possibly including his financial affairs; his failure to disclose those meetings and more than 100 others with representatives of other countries; and his failure to disclose more than 70 assets.

After fulsome praise of Donald Trump — “every day I come to work and enthusiasm” — and the claim that the allegations were resentment at Trump’s election, Kushner asserted in his White House appearance, “I did not collude with Russia.” He added, “I do not know of anyone else” on the campaign who did so.

Read Kushner’s written statement

Pressure increased on Kushner this spring with the revelation of his meetings in December with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak and the head of Russia’s Vnesheconombank, Sergey Gorkov. The pressure esclated this month over Kushner’s involvement in a June 2016 meeting, set up by Donald Trump Jr., with three Kremlin-linked envoys to discuss Moscow’s provision of material damaging to Democratic nominee.

Claims have circulated that the December meeting with Gorkov included Kushner’s discussion of a loan of hundreds of millions of dollars for a troubled New York City skyscraper project.

Kushner insisted, “I had no improper contacts. I have not relied on Russian funds to finance my business activities in the private sector.”

Despite the repeated failures to provide information on his White House forms, including for security clearance, Kushner maintained, “I have tried to be fully transparent with regard to the filing of my SF-86 form, above and beyond what is required.”

In his written statement, Kushner blamed an assistant for prematurely sending his filing in January. He did not explain why subsequent filings were incomplete, including with the omission of the June 2016 encounter in Trump Tower with the Kremlin-linked envoys.

Instead, Kushner played down that meeting, saying he had no advance notice of the subject — even though the subject header of the Trump Jr. e-mail chain, into which he was copied, was Russia and Clinton material. He claimed that he sent a text to an aide, 10 minutes into the meeting, asking to get him out.

Trump’s son-in-law said he had no recollection of two contacts with Russian Ambassador Kislyak between April and November 2016.

Kushner will meet staff of the House Intelligence Committee in a closed-door session on Tuesday.

Trump Renews Attack on Sessions, Blasts Acting FBI Director

Trying to push away the Russia investigation, Donald Trump again denounces his Attorney General and former campaign advisor, Jeff Sessions.

Trump went public with his attacks on Sessions last Wednesday, claiming that the Attorney General treated him “extremely unfairly” when Sessions recused himself over the Russia inquiry in early March.

Over the weekend, Trump appeared to shift by defending Sessions against “fake media” but he swung again on Monday by describing the Attorney General — who said he would stay on in the Administration — as “beleaguered”.

Trump and his advisors are discussing the possibility of dismissing Sessions, with some floating names of replacements, “according to people familiar with the talks”. Some Trump associates see the step as part of a strategy to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller III and end the Trump-Russia investigation, according to the sources.

Trump also went after Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe on the pretext that he is compromised by his wife’s political activity and an alleged link with Hillary Clinton:

Jill McCabe ran unsuccesfully for state senate in Virginia in 2015. She received donations from people connected to the Democratic governor, Terry McAuliffe.

Trump then dragged his youngest son onto his timeline as he tried to declare that his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, was now absolved in the inquiry.