Kushner admits contacting Russians four times, denies collusion

WASHINGTON — White House senior adviser Jared Kushner confirmed he contacted Russians four times during the electoral campaign of his father-in-law Donald Trump and the presidential transition. However, he described the encounters as unmemorable and denied colluding with the Russian government to help Mr Trump win.

In the most consequential meeting, Mr Kushner said he agreed to meet Russian banker Sergey Gorkov, on Dec 13 at the request of the Russian ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak. Mr Kushner said that nothing of substance came from the meeting and he has “had no reason to connect” with Mr Gorkov since.

“I did not collude, nor know of anyone else in the campaign who colluded, with any foreign government,” Mr Kushner said in a statement prepared for an interview with the Senate Intelligence Committee yesterday.

The Senate panel is investigating Russian meddling in last year’s campaign, including whether Mr Trump’s campaign colluded with a Kremlin-led effort to tip the election his way.

Mr Kushner prepared an 11-page statement covering his contact with Russians during Mr Trump’s campaign and transition, as well as questions about the disclosure form he submitted to obtain a security clearance.

His father-in-law appointed him the campaign’s liaison for foreign officials, he said and before the election, he had contact with people from about 15 countries.

“I am happy to share information with the investigating bodies,” Mr Kushner said. “I have shown today that I am willing to do so and will continue to cooperate as I have nothing to hide.”

Mr Kushner’s contact with Russians have come under increasing scrutiny in recent weeks. He has had to amend his security clearance disclosures to account for previously unreported meetings with foreign contacts. His brother-in-law Mr Donald Trump Jr disclosed this month that Mr Kushner sat in during a June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer and a Russian lobbyist that Mr Trump Jr believed would deliver potentially damaging information about Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

Mr Kushner said in his statement to the intelligence committee that he did not read an e-mail Mr Trump Jr sent to him describing that meeting before he joined it.

When Mr Kushner realised that the lawyer wanted to talk to about US adoptions of Russian children he tried to get out of the room, he said, and even e-mailed an assistant: “Can u pls call me on my cell? Need excuse to get out of meeting.”

There has also been speculation about Mr Kushner’s ties to Russia after reports that he had requested to set up a communication back channel with the Russian government during the presidential transition.

Mr Kushner acknowledged that the idea did come up at a Dec 1 meeting after the election with Mr Kislyak.

The Russian ambassador, Mr Kushner said, wanted to provide information to Mr Trump from “generals” and asked if there was a secure line in the transition office.

Since there was no such line, Mr Kushner asked if the Russians had a line at the embassy that Mr Trump’s top national security adviser at the time, Mr Michael Flynn, could use to communicate. Mr Kislyak said that would not be possible, and they agreed to discuss the information once Trump was in office.

“I did not suggest a ‘secret back channel’,” Mr Kushner noted. “I did not suggest an on-going secret form of communication for then or for when the administration took office.” BLOOMBERG