Jared Kushner in Rare Appearance Gaslights About Trump Campaign: ‘We Didn’t Know Russia Was Doing What It Was Doing’

President’s son-in-law says Mueller investigation and media “speculation” had a “much harsher impact” than Russia “buying a couple Facebook ads.”

Senior White House Advisor to the President Jared Kushner made a rare public appearance Tuesday morning, telling the audience at the TIME 100 Summit that the Trump 2016 presidential campaign had no idea Russia was assisting them, had no idea Russia was “doing what it was doing,” and didn’t even think what Russia was doing had any impact.

“In the campaign we didn’t know that Russia was doing what it was doing,” said Kushner, who happens to be the son-in-law of then-candidate and now President Donald Trump.

“The notion of what they were doing didn’t even register to us as impactful,” he added.

Right there, of course, are incongruities.

If they didn’t know Russia was “doing what it was doing,” why would he add that what Russia was doing “didn’t even register to us as impactful”?

Of course, as MSNBC Justice and Security Analyst Matthew Miller, a former Dept. of Justice official notes, President Trump mentioned Wikileaks – the conduit for Russia to distribute the emails it had hacked from the DNC – 141 times during the campaign.

Miller also notes how Kushner is reframing the facts, by “trying to define Russia’s interference as their social media operations,” and ignoring “the hacking and release of emails.”

Kushner also describes “what Russia did” as, “you know, buying some Facebook ads.” He then goes on to attack the Mueller investigation and the surrounding media reports as having a “much harsher impact” than Russia “buying a couple Facebook ads.”

Kushner is among two dozen White House officials whose security clearance applications were denied by career civil service employees. Those denials were overridden by a Trump official who was ordered by the White House to ignore a House subpoena to appear for a deposition today.

In addition to the hacking and Facebook ads, Russia’s attack on the 2016 election spanned at least three years.