President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior White House adviser Jared Kushner said in a statement to congressional committees that he “did not collude” with Russia or seek back channels with Moscow during the US election campaign last year. The Guardian reports.
“I did not collude, nor know of anyone else in the campaign who colluded, with any foreign government,” Kushner said in a written statement released on Monday before his appearance in closed-door meetings with members of the US Congress.
“I had no improper contacts. I have not relied on Russian funds to finance my business activities in the private sector,” he said.
Kushner said he had “perhaps four contacts with Russian representatives” during the 2016 campaign and presidential transition period after Trump’s victory.
Kushner, who is married to Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, says none of the contacts was improper. He also denies that Russians finance any of his business in the private sector.
The statement also details a June 2016 meeting with a Russian-American lawyer and says it was such a “waste of time” that he asked his assistant to call him out of the gathering.
Emails released this month show that the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., accepted the meeting at Trump Tower with the idea that he would receive damaging information about Hillary Clinton. But Kushner says he hadn’t seen those emails until recently shown them by his lawyers.
Kushner said in his statement that Trump Jr. invited him to the meeting. He says he arrived late and when he heard the lawyer discussing the issue of adoptions, he texted his assistant to call him out.
“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,” Kushner’s statement says.
Kushner also denies reports he discussed setting up a secret back-channel with the Russian ambassador to the US.
He said he did speak with the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, in December at Trump Tower. But he says that conversation was about policy in Syria.
Kushner says that when Kislyak asked if there was a secure line for him to provide information on Syria from what Kislyak called his “generals,” Kushner asked if there was an existing communications channel at the embassy that could be used.
Kushner says he never proposed an ongoing secret form of communication.