US president’s son-in-law and senior adviser reportedly named as top official under scrutiny in FBI probe, though not necessarily a suspect
Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is the senior US administration official reported in recent weeks to be a focus in an FBI investigation into possible links between Russia and the US president’s election campaign, multiple US media outlets reported Thursday.
Investigators are scrutinizing meetings held by Kushner, now a senior adviser to the US president, with the Russian ambassador and a banker from Moscow, the Washington Post reported, quoting senior officials.
Kushner initially failed to declare the meetings on forms to obtain a security clearance to serve in the White House. His lawyer later said it was a mistake, telling the Federal Bureau of Investigation that he would amend the forms.
Kushner is not necessarily being treated as a suspect but is believed to have significant information relevant to the inquiry, NBC News reported.
“Mr. Kushner previously volunteered to share with Congress what he knows about these meetings. He will do the same if he is contacted in connection with any other inquiry,” Jamie Gorelick, one of his attorneys, told the Post.
Kushner, who is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, is the only current White House official known to be considered a key figure in the probe, which is targeting other members of Trump’s campaign team.
Last week, the Washington Post reported that the FBI’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties with Russia had extended to a current senior White House official.
The newspaper cited unnamed sources familiar with the probe as saying a current top White House official had been identified as a “significant person of interest,” without disclosing the name of the person.
The latest revelations undercut Trump’s insistence that his campaign had nothing to do with the Kremlin.
The Russian government is accused by US intelligence of trying to tilt the 2016 election in Trump’s favor.
Last week, Trump declared himself the victim of the “greatest witch hunt” in American political history and denied allegations of collusion.
“There is no collusion between certainly myself and my campaign, but I can always speak for myself, and the Russians — zero,” Trump told reporters.
The White House was rocked by a further revelation last Friday, when reports emerged that Trump said his sacking of FBI director James Comey has relieved “great pressure” on him caused by the Russia investigation.
The New York Times reported that Trump told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov last week that Comey was a “nut job.”
“I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off,” Trump told his guest in the Oval Office, the Times said, quoting notes taken at the meeting and read to the paper by a US official.
That flies in the face of the White House’s public insistence that Comey’s dismissal was not linked to his ongoing investigation.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer offered a new explanation for that firing, saying that Trump had been trying to improve relations with Russia — and Comey got in the way.
“By grandstanding and politicizing the investigation into Russia’s actions, James Comey created unnecessary pressure on our ability to engage and negotiate with Russia,” he said.
As reported by The Times of Israel