Even though his attorney swears he’s cooperating in every way he possibly can with Congressional investigators looking into Russian interference with the 2016 election, it now looks as if senior White House adviser Jared Kushner will have to appear before yet another Senate committee.
In July, Kushner testified — behind closed doors — to the Senate Intelligence Committee, but now its chairman, Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) is refusing to share that testimony with other committees who are also holding hearings on the Russia matter. Burr told CNN:
“We don’t hand out transcripts. No.”
That’s bad news for Kushner because it means he’ll now probably have to go through another day of questions from members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The committee’s ranking members, Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) sent a letter to Kushner which reads in part:
“Those committees have not provided us with transcripts of any of their other witness interview. If you are able to secure for the Committee copies of the transcripts from Mr. Kushner’s other interviews, then please provide them and we will consider whether the transcript satisfies the needs of our investigation.”
Kushner’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, told CNN that his client will “do it again” if the Judiciary Committee does indeed request that he appear before them. But there’s a danger in such a scenario: If Kushner deviates from what he told the Intelligence Committee in the slightest, he could open himself up to a charge of perjury and increase the pressure building on him from a separate — and much more serious — probe being conducted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
So while Kushner may pretend to be eager to help the Senate committees engaged in their ongoing investigations, every single time he sits down and gives testimony, the risk of his walking into a trap of his own creation grows. And the only way out of that legal bind will be for him to turn on his father-in-law. No matter where he turns, the options remaining for Jared are bad and worse.
Featured Image Via NBC News
