UPDATE: Jared Kushner Exposes More Trump-Russia Fake News
President Trump’s son-in-law and senior White House adviser Jared Kushner publicly released an 11-page statement he was planning to give to the Congressional committees investigating Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 election.
In the statement, Kushner exposed several stories about him as fake news:
The Hill: “Kushner left Russian meetings off security clearance forms” (April 7, 2017)
Many stories appeared with headlines like the one above. See also The New York Times (April 6, 2017); Newsweek (July 13, 2017). The only impression one could draw from the headline is that Kushner left off only meetings with Russian nationals on his security clearance forms. That is not the case.
According to Kushner, due to miscommunication, the draft of his security clearance form was submitted prematurely on January 18. Kushner informed the transition team the very next day of the situation. The transition team then transmitted that notification to the FBI, which conducts background checks before issuing security clearances. Kushner fully supplemented his security clearance form before the background interview with the FBI and before any inquiries from the media.
Kushner said:
They sent an email to my assistant in Washington, communicating that the changes to one particular section were complete; my assistant interpreted that message as meaning that the entire form was completed. At that point, the form was a rough draft and still had many omissions including not listing any foreign government contacts and even omitted the address of my father-in-law (which was obviously well known). Because of this miscommunication, my assistant submitted the draft on January 18, 2017.
That evening, when we realized the form had been submitted prematurely, we informed the transition team that we needed to make changes and additions to the form. The very next day, January 19, 2017, we submitted supplemental information to the transition, which confirmed receipt and said they would immediately transmit it to the FBI. The supplement disclosed that I had “numerous contacts with foreign officials” and that we were going through my records to provide an accurate and complete list. I provided a list of those contacts in the normal course, before my background investigation interview and prior to any inquiries or media reports about my form.
Kushner also said that, in preparing for production in response to the Committees’ requests to appear, he became aware of the now infamous June 9 meeting in Trump Tower and, though he was not required to disclose the meeting, chose to do so anyway.
Washington Post: “Russian ambassador told Moscow that Kushner wanted secret communications channel with Kremlin” (May 26, 2017)
The Washington Post reported in May that Kushner and Russia ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak “discussed the possibility of setting up a secret and secure communications channel between Trump’s transition team and the Kremlin, using Russian diplomatic facilities in an apparent move to shield their pre-inauguration discussions from monitoring.”
The report cited “U.S. officials briefed on intelligence reports.” The officials told The Post that the intelligence reports were based on intercepted communications between Kislyak and Moscow, in which Kislyak allegedly relayed the message the Kushner proposed setting up a “secret backchannel” with Moscow during a meeting at Trump Tower on December 1st.
However, Kushner flatly denied that characterization of the meeting:
The meeting occurred in Trump Tower, where we had our transition office, and lasted twenty-thirty minutes. Lt. General Michael Flynn (Ret.), who became the President’s National Security Advisor, also attended. During the meeting, after pleasantries were exchanged, as I had done in many of the meetings I had and would have with foreign officials, I stated our desire for a fresh start in relations. . . .
The Ambassador expressed similar sentiments about relations, and then said he especially wanted to address U.S. policy in Syria, and that he wanted to convey information from what he called his “generals.” He said he wanted to provide information that would help inform the new administration. He said the generals could not easily come to the U.S. to convey this information and he asked if there was a secure line in the transition office to conduct a conversation. General Flynn or I explained that there were no such lines. I believed developing a thoughtful approach on Syria was a very high priority given the ongoing humanitarian crisis, and I asked if they had an existing communications channel at his embassy we could use where they would be comfortable transmitting the information they wanted to relay to General Flynn. The Ambassador said that would not be possible and so we all agreed that we would receive this information after the Inauguration. Nothing else occurred. I did not suggest a “secret back channel.” I did not suggest an on-going secret form of communication for then or for when the administration took office. I did not raise the possibility of using the embassy or any other Russian facility for any purpose other than this one possible conversation in the transition period. We did not discuss sanctions.
Reuters: “Exclusive: Trump son-in-law had undisclosed contacts with Russian envoy — sources” (May 27, 2017)
In late May, Reuters reported that Kushner “at three previously undisclosed contacts with the Russian ambassador” before and after the 2016 election. Citing “seven current and former U.S. officials,” Reuters alleged that two of the sources told them that “[t]hese contacts included two phone calls between April and November last year.”
Regarding the two phone calls, Kushner testified that he (a) did not recall any such phone calls, (b) did not find any evidence that such calls occurred after reviewing his phone records, (c) was unable to get more details from the Reuters reporter that filed the story about when and on what phone number the alleged calls took place:
Reuters news service has reported that I had two calls with Ambassador Kislyak at some time between April and November of 2016. While I participated in thousands of calls during this period, I do not recall any such calls with the Russian Ambassador. We have reviewed the phone records available to us and have not been able to identify any calls to any number we know to be associated with Ambassador Kislyak and I am highly skeptical these calls took place. A comprehensive review of my land line and cell phone records from the time does not reveal those calls. I had no ongoing relationship with the Ambassador before the election, and had limited knowledge about him then. In fact, on November 9, the day after the election, I could not even remember the name of the Russian Ambassador. When the campaign received an email purporting to be an official note of congratulations from President Putin, I was asked how we could verify it was real. To do so I thought the best way would be to ask the only contact I recalled meeting from the Russian government, which was the Ambassador I had met months earlier, so I sent an email asking Mr. Simes, “What is the name of the Russian ambassador?” Through my lawyer, I have asked Reuters to provide the dates on which the calls supposedly occurred or the phone number at which I supposedly reached, or was reached by, Ambassador Kislyak. The journalist refused to provide any corroborating evidence that they occurred.

