The news that the FBI is scrutinizing President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner is an intriguing new development in the Bureau’s Russia investigation. At issue is reports that Kushner reached out to Russian officials to create a clandestine direct line of communication with the Kremlin during the 2016 presidential campaign. Now, Kushner’s lawyers say that the FBI and other investigators don’t need to worry about their client avoiding them. In fact, they say that Kushner will talk to Congress and any federal investigators whenever called.
Even before this revelation, it makes sense that Kushner would at the very least need to talk with the investigators. Defense lawyer Edward MacMahon explains:
“The FBI tries to be thorough in their investigations… If it’s been publicly reported that he met with Russians, and the investigation has to do with administration officials meeting with Russians, well, then, they’ll probably want to talk to everybody.”
Yeah, duh. I’m a lawyer, but anyone could guess that.
The White House in March confirmed that Kushner and Michael Flynn, the ousted national security adviser, met with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States. The meeting took place at Trump Tower in December for what one official called a brief courtesy meeting. Lawyers for the Trump adviser made it abundantly clear in a statement released on Thursday that Kushner had nowhere to hide:
“Mr. Kushner previously volunteered to share with Congress what he knows about these meetings. He will do the same if he is contacted in connection with any other inquiry.”
Of course the Trump administration is trying to emphasize that just because someone is under FBI investigation that doesn’t necessarily make them guilty. It also doesn’t take a lawyer to draw that conclusion, guys. What it does indicate is yet another person connected to Trump with shady contacts that they conveniently forgot to report. Another string is pulled. When will the whole thing unravel?
Watch a discussion of Kushner’s actions here:
Featured image from Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Flickr under CC BY 2.0.
