Jared Kushner: I Did Not Collude with Any Foreign Power

Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law, states that during the presidential campaign and the transition period, he did not collude or make agreements with any foreign power, nor did he have any 'illegal contact' with Russian officials. The senior White House advisor made these points in a written statement to U.S. congressional committees on July 24, prior to his appearance at a closed session of these committees. In part of the statement, he says, 'I did not collude or make agreements with any foreign government, nor did anyone else in the campaign.' The congressional committees are investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and the potential collaboration between Trump's campaign and Russian officials. Kushner claims he met with Russian officials approximately four times during the campaign and transition period following Trump's victory on November 8. He asserts, 'I had no illegal contacts and did not use Russian investments or money for my private economic activities.' He adds that a meeting with Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Russian lawyer in June 2016, was a 'waste of time' and that he had not seen any emails before this meeting indicating that the lawyer could provide 'damaging information about Hillary Clinton.' Kushner also denies suggesting a secret communication line between Trump and the Kremlin, referring to reports claiming he raised this issue during a meeting with the then-Russian ambassador to the U.S. at Trump Tower in New York last December. Kushner states that the discussion was about Syria, and when Sergey Kislyak asked if there was a secure line for 'generals' to provide information about the situation in Syria, he inquired if they could use the embassy's communication line. Kushner insists he never proposed a secret and ongoing communication line. He is scheduled to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Monday and the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, both of which will be closed sessions. Adam Schiff, the senior Democratic representative on the House Intelligence Committee, stated on July 23 that he would question Kushner about his meeting with the Russian ambassador, a meeting with the head of a major Russian bank, his meeting with the Russian lawyer, and other issues. In an interview with CBS News, he said, 'There are many topics we will ask him about, and one of the most important is his meetings with officials and citizens of foreign countries.' Schiff predicted that 'this is likely just the first session of his testimony.' In contrast, Anthony Scaramucci, the new White House communications director, expressed hope that 'Kushner's appearance before the congressional investigative committees will be the last time he has to talk about Russia.' The congressional committees are conducting their investigations separately and independently from the investigation led by Robert Mueller, the special counsel appointed by the Justice Department. U.S. security agencies announced in January 2017 that Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, ordered an organized campaign to 'influence' the U.S. elections, aimed at creating distrust in the American electoral system, undermining Hillary Clinton, and assisting Donald Trump. Despite all the evidence presented by critics, the Russian government denies interfering in the U.S. election campaign, and Donald Trump also denies any collaboration with Russia. This controversy has significantly impacted Donald Trump's presidency and has prevented him from fulfilling one of his campaign promises to improve relations with Russia.