https://www.ft.com/content/a18cef82-41c6-11e7-82b6-896b95f30f58
FBI investigates Jared Kushner’s Russia ties
Probe into links between Trump campaign and Moscow reaches US president’s son-in-law
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May 26, 2017
by: Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into connections between Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Russia, in a sign that the probe into contacts between Trump campaign aides and Russian officials has moved closer to the White House.
One person familiar with the mood inside the White House said there was “shock” that the FBI probe had reached Mr Kushner, the scion of a property empire who is married to the president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump. He is the only White House official known to be under FBI scrutiny amid an investigation that started last summer.
Mr Kushner has come under scrutiny because of two meetings in December. The first was with Sergei Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to Washington, while the other was with Sergei Gorkov, a Russian who heads Vnesheconombank, a state-owned lender under US sanctions.
A White House spokesperson for Mr Kushner declined to comment on the FBI investigation. But Jamie Gorelick, a former deputy attorney-general who is representing Mr Kushner, said he was willing to discuss the meetings with congressional or federal investigators.
“Mr Kushner previously volunteered to share with Congress what he knows about these meetings,” said Ms Gorelick. “He will do the same if he is contacted in connection with any other inquiry.”
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The justice department last week appointed Robert Mueller, a former FBI head, as a special counsel to lead an independent investigation into the ties between a number of Trump campaign aides and Russian officials. After the appointment, Mr Trump described the investigation as a “witch hunt” that was being pushed for political purposes.
Sarah Isgur Flores, spokesperson for the justice department, which oversees the FBI, said: “I’d refer you to Mueller’s team. And they’ll say they don’t talk about the course of their investigation.”
The White House has been increasingly consumed by the Russia scandal in recent weeks. Mr Trump has come under scrutiny after he fired James Comey as head of the FBI for reasons related to what he called the “Russia thing”. In an Oval Office meeting last week with Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, he described Mr Comey as a “nut job” whose dismissal had taken some of the Russia-related pressure off him and his team.
Mr Comey has said that Mr Trump urged him to halt a probe into Michael Flynn, a campaign adviser who served briefly as the president’s first national security adviser. Jeff Sessions, the attorney-general, has also recused himself from any investigation into the campaign and Russia after he failed to inform Congress about meetings he held with Mr Kislyak.
The New York Times said last week that Mr Trump had also asked Dan Coats, director of national intelligence, and another top official to intervene by publicly saying there was no collusion between his campaign aides and Russia. Asked about the issue by Congress, Mr Coats declined to comment.
John Brennan, head of the CIA under Barack Obama until January, also told Congress this week that he had been worried about the possibility that Russian intelligence services had co-opted Trump campaign aides.
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The Senate intelligence committee, one of three congressional committees looking into ties between Trump aides and Russia, has asked Mr Kushner to testify about his two meetings with the Russian citizens.
The Washington Post and NBC News both reported on Thursday evening that the FBI was looking at the role of Mr Kushner, who is one of Mr Trump’s closest aides. The Washington Post said it had not been told that Mr Kushner was a “target” — the main person of interest in an investigation.
The closest the FBI probe had previously come to the White House was over the case of Michael Flynn. Mr Flynn has come under scrutiny because of a series of conversations and meetings he held with Mr Kislyak and also payment he took from a RT, a Russian state-owned media network.
Mr Trump fired Mr Flynn, a retired general who had also not cleared his Russia-related work with the Pentagon in line with department rules, after 24 days following a report in the Washington Post that said that Mr Flynn had lied to White House officials about his conversations with Mr Kislyak.
Earlier this year, some White House officials were surprised when they learnt Mr Kushner had also met Mr Kislyak, a fact he had not mentioned when he participated in White House meetings about Mr Flynn and his Russia connections. After the election, he became a go-to person for foreign officials trying to make contacts with the Trump team.
The FBI is also looking at Paul Manafort, a Republican consultant who for several months was Mr Trump’s campaign chairman. In February Mr Manafort told the Financial Times that he had never had any involvement with the regime of Russian president Vladimir Putin. He also said he had never been questioned by the FBI about Russia. Asked whether that remained the case on Thursday, his spokesman declined to comment.
Follow Demetri Sevastopulo on Twitter: @dimi
