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)