It’s been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad last 48 hours for the Donald Trump administration. And it may be about to get worse. Trump may have thought he put out a raging forest fire when now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions was all but forced to recuse himself after it emerged that he lied about his contacts with Russia during the campaign. But out of the embers of that fire, a new one may be smoldering. The White House now admits that Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, met with Kremlin officials in December.
White House spokeswoman Hope Hicks told The New York Times that Kushner, now a senior adviser to Trump, joined now-former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn for a meeting with Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak, at Trump Tower. The meeting lasted for roughly 20 minutes, and was held to discuss future relations between the two countries and “establish a line of communication” between the incoming Trump administration and the Kremlin. Hicks says Kushner hasn’t spoken with Kislyak since.
From the looks of it, the White House’s hand was forced by an article that will run in this week’s edition of The New Yorker. It revealed in passing that Kushner met with Kislyak during the transition in order to establish “more open lines of communication.” Hicks confirmed that Flynn was on hand for that meeting.
Normally, meetings between transition officials and foreign officials wouldn’t raise red flags. But this isn’t a normal situation, given the current furor over Russian interference in the election, as well as the prospect that Trump himself was compromised by the Kremlin.
Additionally, at least two top administration officials have been caught red-handed lying about their ties to the Kremlin. Remember, Flynn was pushed out after it emerged that he hadn’t been truthful about his dealings with Kislyak. And now Sessions is under fire for hiding his meetings with Kislyak during his confirmation hearing–even when ranking Democrat Patrick Leahy specifically asked him about any potential Kremlin dealings in a questionnaire.
Hicks said that Kushner met with “many other foreign countries and representatives” before Trump took office. With all due respect, Hope, when the son-in-law of the president-elect meets with officials from a country that tried to diddle with our election, it’s not just another meeting. And when that son-in-law is his father-in-law’s most trusted adviser, it’s not just another meeting. All together?
At best, we find ourselves–yet again–asking questions about the occupants of the White House that we should never have to ask. When that’s the best-case scenario, that’s not good.
(Image compilation by Liberal America. Sources: Gage Skidmore, Lori Berkowitz, and Antonio Rosset)
