May 26, 2017

Why the FBI is interested in Kushner

Washington Post - FBI investigators have a simple reason for believing Jared Kushner can help them determine whether President Trump's campaign helped Russia influence the presidential election: Kushner met with senior Russians during the campaign.

And while it's not weird for presidential campaigns to meet with foreign officials, under this context, it was.

Right around the time Trump's son-in-law and top adviser held a meeting with the Russian ambassador to the United States last spring, the CIA director started to notice something weird: The Russians were talking about actively, aggressively trying to influence the U.S. presidential election against Hillary Clinton.

Guardian -  It emerged last year that executives of Vnesheconombank, a Russian bank, had talks with Kushner. The White House aide also held a meeting with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the US. Former national security adviser Michael Flynn resigned in February after it emerged that he had misled vice-president Mike Pence about the nature of his conversations with Kislyak.

The FBI’s investigation is also reportedly continuing to focus on Flynn and Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, who has had extensive business dealings for Russian proxies in Ukraine. Manafort has denied wrongdoing. Flynn is facing subpoenas from the US House and Senate and has refused requests for documents by invoking his fifth amendment right against self-incrimination.

Last month, the New York Times reported that Kushner omitted meeting with Russians on security clearance forms.

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