Trump son-in-law's contacts with Russian envoy revealed

US President Donald Trump and his senior advisor Jared Kushner at the White House in Washington. File picture: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

US President Donald Trump and his senior advisor Jared Kushner at the White House in Washington. File picture: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Published May 27, 2017

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Washington - US President Donald Trump’s

son-in-law and close adviser, Jared Kushner, had at least three

previously undisclosed contacts with the Russian ambassador to

the United States during and after the 2016 presidential

campaign, seven current and former US officials told Reuters.

Those contacts included two phone calls between April and

November last year, two of the sources said. By early this year,

Kushner had become a focus of the FBI investigation into whether

there was any collusion between the Trump campaign and the

Kremlin, said two other sources - one current and one former law

enforcement official.

Kushner initially had come to the attention of FBI

investigators last year as they began scrutinizing former

national security adviser Michael Flynn’s connections with

Russian officials, the two sources said.

While the FBI is investigating Kushner’s contacts with

Russia, he is not currently a target of that investigation, the

current law enforcement official said.

The new information about the two calls as well as other

details uncovered by Reuters shed light on when and why Kushner

first attracted FBI attention and show that his contacts with

Russian envoy Sergei Kislyak were more extensive than the White

House has acknowledged.

NBC News reported on Thursday that Kushner was under

scrutiny by the FBI, in the first sign that the investigation,

which began last July, has reached the president’s inner circle.

The FBI declined to comment, while the Russian embassy said

it was policy not to comment on individual diplomatic contacts.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Kushner's attorney, Jamie Gorelick, said Kushner did not

remember any calls with Kislyak between April and November.

"Mr Kushner participated in thousands of calls in this time

period. He has no recollection of the calls as described. We

have asked (Reuters) for the dates of such alleged calls so we

may look into it and respond, but we have not received such

information," she said.

In March, the White House said that Kushner and Flynn had

met Kislyak at Trump Tower in December to establish “a line of

communication.” Kislyak also attended a Trump campaign speech in

Washington in April 2016 that Kushner attended. The White House

did not acknowledge any other contacts between Kushner and

Russian officials.

BACK CHANNEL

Before the election, Kislyak’s undisclosed discussions with

Kushner and Flynn focused on fighting terrorism and improving

U.S.-Russian economic relations, six of the sources said. Former

President Barack Obama imposed sanctions on Russia after it

seized Crimea and started supporting separatists in eastern

Ukraine in 2014.

After the Nov. 8 election, Kushner and Flynn also discussed

with Kislyak the idea of creating a back channel between Trump

and Russian President Vladimir Putin that could have bypassed

diplomats and intelligence agencies, two of the sources

said. Reuters was unable to determine how those discussions were

conducted or exactly when they took place.

Reuters was first to report last week that a proposal for a

back channel was discussed between Flynn and Kislyak as Trump

prepared to take office. The Washington Post was first to report

on Friday that Kushner participated in that conversation.

Separately, there were at least 18 undisclosed calls and

emails between Trump associates and Kremlin-linked people in the

seven months before the Nov. 8 presidential election, including

six calls with Kislyak, sources told Reuters earlier this month.

. Two people familiar with those 18 contacts said

Flynn and Kushner were among the Trump associates who spoke to

the ambassador by telephone. Reuters previously reported only

Flynn’s involvement in those discussions.

Six of the sources said there were multiple contacts between

Kushner and Kislyak but declined to give details beyond the two

phone calls between April and November and the post-election

conversation about setting up a back channel. It is also not

clear whether Kushner engaged with Kislyak on his own or with

other Trump aides.

HOW KUSHNER CAME UNDER SCRUTINY

FBI scrutiny of Kushner began when intelligence reports of

Flynn’s contacts with Russians included mentions of U.S.

citizens, whose names were redacted because of U.S. privacy

laws. This prompted investigators to ask U.S. intelligence

agencies to reveal the names of the Americans, the current U.S.

law enforcement official said.

Kushner’s was one of the names that was revealed, the

official said, prompting a closer look at the president’s

son-in-law’s dealings with Kislyak and other Russians.

FBI investigators are examining whether Russians suggested

to Kushner or other Trump aides that relaxing economic sanctions

would allow Russian banks to offer financing to people with ties

to Trump, said the current U.S. law enforcement official.

The head of Russian state-owned Vnesheconombank, Sergei

Nikolaevich Gorkov, a trained intelligence officer whom Putin

appointed, met Kushner at Trump Tower in December. The bank is

under U.S. sanctions and was implicated in a 2015 espionage case

in which one of its New York executives pleaded guilty to spying

and was jailed.

The bank said in a statement in March that it had met with

Kushner along with other representatives of U.S. banks and

business as part of preparing a new corporate strategy.

Officials familiar with intelligence on contacts between the

Russians and Trump advisers said that so far they have not seen

evidence of any wrongdoing or collusion between the Trump camp

and the Kremlin. Moreover, they said, nothing found so far

indicates that Trump authorized, or was even aware of, the

contacts.

There may not have been anything improper about the

contacts, the current law enforcement official stressed.

Kushner offered in March to be interviewed by the Senate

Intelligence Committee, which is also investigating Russia’s

attempts to interfere in last year’s election.

The contacts between Trump campaign associates and Russian

officials during the presidential campaign coincided with what

U.S. intelligence agencies concluded was a Kremlin effort

through 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 Walcott, Warren Strobel and Phil Stewart in

Washington; Editing by Kevin Krolicki and Ross Colvin)

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