Jared Kushner, the son-in-law and senior adviser of US President Donald Trump, discussed with the Russian Ambassador the possibility of creating a secret communication channel between Trump’s transition team and the Kremlin, said US officials briefed on intelligence reports.
Kushner wanted to use Russian facilities to avoid US interception of discussions with Moscow, the Washington Post reported on Friday. The claim comes from intercepts of conversations between Russia’s Ambassador Sergey I Kislyak and Moscow.
The move, which was apparently intended to make the confidential talks more difficult to monitor, was discussed in a December meeting at Trump Tower. Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn also attended the meeting with Kushner, the Post reported, citing US officials.
While the White House confirmed that encounter in March, it was reported on Friday that Kushner had at least three previously undisclosed contacts with Kislyak during and after the 2016 Presidential campaign. Kislyak told higher-ups in Moscow that Kushner’s proposal came as a surprise to him, the report said.
The idea was to have Flynn speak directly with a senior military official in Moscow to discuss Syria and other security issues, the New York Times reported, citing officials. But neither side followed up on it. And less than two weeks later, it was dropped, said the report.
In the days after the meeting with Kislyak, Kushner had a separate meeting with Sergey N Gorkov, a Russian banker with close ties to President Vladimir Putin. Though the proposal was designed primarily as a conduit to discuss policy issues, it was unclear why such communications would have needed to be carried out through a secret channel.
The White House declined to comment. The Russian Embassy did not respond to requests for comments.
The revelation has stoked new questions about Kushner’s connections to Russian officials at a time when the FBI is conducting an investigation into Moscow’s attempts to disrupt last year’s Presidential polls.