President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner on Monday gave details in a statement made public before his closed-door meeting with the U. S. Senate Intelligence Committee about his contacts with Russians during the 2016 election campaign and the presidential transition period.
President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner on Monday gave details in a statement made public before his closed-door meeting with the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee about his contacts with Russians during the 2016 election campaign and the presidential transition period.
The following are some of the main points in the statement:
- Kushner said he became a "point of contact" for foreign countries once it was clear that Trump would be the Republican presidential nominee. Kushner said he had "incoming contacts" with people from roughly 15 countries. "To put these requests in context, I must have received thousands of calls, letters and emails," he said.
- Kushner said he was introduced to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, among other foreign dignitaries, in April 2016 at a Washington hotel where then-candidate Trump was making a speech. He said he shook hands with the dignitaries at the reception. "The ambassadors also expressed interest in creating a positive relationship should we win the election ... Each exchange lasted less than a minute," he said.
- Kushner said he attended a meeting, at the invitation of his brother-in-law Donald Trump Jr., on June 9, 2016, at Trump Tower in New York. Attendees included a Russian lawyer discussing a ban on Americans adopting Russian children. Kushner did not name the lawyer or others in attendance.
"No part of the meeting I attended included anything about the campaign, there was no follow up to the meeting that I am aware of, I do not recall how many people were there (or their names), and I have no knowledge of any documents being offered or accepted," he said.
- After Trump won the election, ambassador Kislyak on Nov. 16 invited Kushner to a meeting, Kushner said. He said that at the time, he could not recall the ambassador's name. When he and Kislyak met at Trump Tower on Dec. 1, Kushner said he asked Kislyak to identify the best person to be a contact for direct discussions and a line to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
- Kushner said he met on Dec. 13 with Sergey Gorkov, a Russian banker, for 20-25 minutes and received gifts of a piece of art and a bag of dirt, both from a village in Belarus where Kushner's grandparents were from. He said he gave the gifts to his assistant to have them registered with the transition office. He said there was no discussion about Russian sanctions. "At no time was there any discussion about my companies, business transactions, real estate projects, loans, banking arrangements or any private business of any kind," he said.
- Kushner said his first security clearance form, which omitted foreign government contacts, was submitted in error by his assistant. He said he sent in a supplemental form the next day, disclosing he had numerous contacts with foreign officials, and provided a list of those contacts "in the normal course."
(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
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