Kushner Reportedly Had ‘At Least Three’ Undisclosed Contacts with Russian Envoy

Kushner’s Legal Team Said Kushner Has ‘No Recollection’ of Contacts

Donald Trump’s son-in-law and presidential adviser Jared Kushner had at least three previously undisclosed contacts with Sergey Kislyak, Vladimir Putin’s Russian ambassador to the United States, Reuters reported last night.

Citing seven current and former officials, the reporting advises that the contacts included two phone calls between April and November, and follows further reports that Kushner told Kislyak that he wanted to establish a secret, backchannel line of communication with the Kremlin.

The Reuters report said that the new information “sheds 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 acknowledged.” NBC News reported this week that Kushner is under “scrutiny” from the FBI in their investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Jamie Gorelick, Kushner’s attorney, said that Kushner had “participated in thousands of calls in this time period,” advising that Kushner “has no recollection of the calls as described.”

She further advised that Kushner’s legal team has requested the dates for the alleged calls from Reuters “so [they] may look into it and respond,” but stated they had not yet received the information. 

As Politico pointed out, the legal team was silent on the allegations that Kushner wanted to establish backchannel lines of communication with the Kremlin. Reuters further reported that the FBI declined comment, and the Russian embassy reiterated their policy of not commenting on “individual diplomatic contacts.”

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