[Beren]

Jared Kushner examined as part of FBI Russia investigation

JONATHAN KARL, JOHN SANTUCCI, PIERRE THOMAS and ADAM KELSEY
Good Morning America May 26, 2017

Contacts between Russian officials and Jared Kushner, son-in-law of President Donald Trump and one of his senior advisers, are a focus of the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, sources tell ABC News.

While Kushner is not a target of FBI investigation and has not been accused of committing a crime, sources said he is among a number of White House staffers and former Trump campaign officials who are likely to be interviewed by the FBI because of their interactions with former national security adviser Michael Flynn -- or because they had contact with Russian officials during the campaign or the transition.

Of particular interest is Kushner's participation in a meeting with Russia's Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak in December and a separate meeting with a Russian financial executive with a bank that had been subject to U.S. sanctions, sources said. Both contacts have been previously reported and the White House has denied that they were inappropriate.

The sources told ABC News that Kushner has not yet been contacted by the FBI and has not been asked to turn over any documents.

"We don't know anything," a source close to Kushner told ABC News. "He hasn't been approached."

"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," Kushner's lawyer, Jamie Gorelick, said in a statement obtained by ABC News.

The Democratic National Committee on Thursday night called for Kushner's security clearance to be suspended until the FBI has completed its investigation.

“The FBI’s Russia investigation reached Trump’s backyard, and now it’s in his house," the statement read. "Kushner’s security clearance should be suspended until the FBI’s findings are complete.”

Last week, ABC News confirmed that the FBI's inquiry had extended to at least one current White House staffer.

The White House provided a statement at the time in response to a Washington Post report on that matter, denying any collusion between associates of the president and Russia.

"As the president has stated before -- a thorough investigation will confirm that there was no collusion between the campaign and any foreign entity," said press secretary Sean Spicer in the statement.

If this goes further the next one may be Trump himself.

[stephen50right]

<<< Contacts between Russian officials and Jared Kushner, son-in-law of President Donald Trump and one of his senior advisers, are a focus of the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, sources tell ABC News.

While Kushner is not a target of FBI investigation and has not been accused of committing a crime... >>>


Sure seems to me the word "focus" towards Kushner is misleading propaganda to describe the intent "of the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election" IE insinuation in the opening sentence that Kushner is a major target.

But it's the liberal media, so nothing new.

[ArtAllm]

Why do they not look for Israel's meddling in US politics?

There are a lot of foreign citizens in the USA who are in the leading positions and can easily influence the election itself and the elected president in a way that is detrimental to the interests of American Normies.

But these guys with "double loyalty" (like Kushner) are not Russian citizens.

I think that the talking heads in the (((MSM))) are crying "Russian bear!", because they hope that this way the huge (((900-pounds-Gorilla))) remains invisible.

[Beren]

Why do they not look for Israel's meddling in US politics?

Examining Kushner could be the first step, he's the key figure here practically leading the White House branch of the family business. I'm sure he was who organised Trump's campaign from behind, while Bannon told him what to say. He made and still makes all the deals, while Trump enjoys the spotlight and struggles to act somewhat presidential.

[ThirdTerm]

Brennan emphasized to the House Intelligence Committee: “These are contacts that might have been totally, totally innocent and benign as well as those that might have succumbed somehow to those Russian efforts.”

“Many times they know that individuals may be Russian officials,” he said later, speaking broadly about how Russians use people, “but they don't know that there is an intelligence connection or an intelligence motive behind it.”

Brennan made clear that he had only suspected that Russians may have used or tried to use members of the Trump campaign to influence the election.

But — and this is a really key but — his suspicions were enough to refer everything he knew to the FBI.

The FBI, we know now, took Brennan's concerns seriously. The agency is waist-deep in a months-long, mostly covert investigation of Russia meddling and whether the Trump campaign helped. And its investigation has led it to the highest ranks of the White House.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the ... 4ebbf6e92e

There is no hard evidence that the Russians meddled with the US election and these contacts might have been totally innocent as former CIA director John Brennan testified. Brennan only suspected that the Russians may have used members of the Trump campaign to influence the election, upon which the FBI launched a massive investigation. Brennan was nominated by President Barack Obama and his suspicions may be entirely groundless or politically motivated.

[MistyTiger]

If Jared is guilty, then he will just have to leave the WH. Yay to his security clearance being suspended! I do not trust him.

[stephen50right]

More diversion tactics from the Democratic Party to stifle and disrupt the good that the Republican Party is trying to bring to America.

It's obvious that Democrats have no interest to Make America Great Again - they prefer America to be like their Detroit.

[MistyTiger]

So wait, the Democrats built Detroit? It does not say that in the history books, does it?

If the Republican party has such good intentions, why did they pick Trump out of all the Republicans who were running for president? Why not choose Ted Cruise or Marco Rubio?

[stephen50right]

So wait, the Democrats built Detroit? It does not say that in the history books, does it? :?:

If the Republican party has such good intentions, why did they pick Trump out of all the Republicans who were running for president? Why not choose Ted Cruise or Marco Rubio?

Trump is doing a wonderful job and Jared will stay on in his position.

Don't be fooled by the liberal media narrative and the Democratic Party haters who say that Trump should be impeached if he picks his nose.

[Rugoz]

More diversion tactics from the Democratic Party to stifle and disrupt the good that the Republican Party is trying to bring to America.

So the FBI is now a part of the Democratic Party

There are only 2 options here: Either the FBI is part of a great conspiracy to topple Trump, or Trump's team has some shady connection to Russia.

Either way, America is now officially a Banana Republic.

[Beren]

So the FBI is now a part of the Democratic Party

It's actually part of the immune system of the country and the government.

Either way, America is now officially a Banana Republic.

No, it's still resisting. Trump took the White House with a Blitzkrieg, but he can be ousted as fast as well.

Also:

Jared Kushner trying to secretly talk to the Russians is the biggest billow of smoke yet

By Amber Phillips May 26 at 8:03 PM

The Washington Post's national security team just reported that during the transition, Jared Kushner proposed to the Russians that they set up a secret channel of communication using secure Russian facilities. That's what the Russian ambassador to the United States told Moscow about a December conversation he had with Trump's son-in-law and top adviser.

This is a damning piece of news for the White House caught under an avalanche of revelations about its dealings with Russia.

If it's true, it's the most difficult for them to explain in the context of an FBI investigation into Russia meddling in the U.S. election and whether Trump's campaign helped. Why would Trump's transition team need to secretly talk to the Russians, using their Russian channels?

The White House declined to comment.

Everything we've learned these past few weeks as it relates to the FBI's investigation into Russia is noteworthy, but it can be caveated with a reasonable explanation from the Trump White House. This news is much more difficult to caveat.

To wit:

1) Kushner is now a focus of the FBI's investigation into Russia meddling. Of interest to FBI investigators is likely Kushner's several meetings with the Russian ambassador.

Caveat: The FBI has accused Kushner of no wrongdoing, and he's not their main focus.

[Why the FBI is likely interested in Jared Kushner's meeting with Russians]

2) Kushner didn't share those meetings with the Russians on his security clearance form. A security clearance is required for anyone who is privy to the nation's deepest secrets.

Caveat: His lawyer said it was a mistake, and Kushner corrected it after the New York Times reported it.

3) CNN reported Friday that FBI investigators are also interested in how Russia helped use computer bots to target and push negative information on Hillary Clinton (and positive information about Trump) on Facebook. Trump campaign's data analytics operation was supervised by Kushner.

Caveat: Kushner ran a media company, so it conceivably makes sense he'd take over social media for the campaign.

4) Now we learn that Kushner proposed setting up a secret communications channel between Trump's transition team and Russia using Russian facilities, according to Russia ambassador's report home. U.S. officials told The Post this was an apparent move by Kushner to block any monitoring of Trump's activities ahead of the inauguration from the United States.

Here, we have a caveat: Russians at times feed false information into communication streams that they think the United States is watching.

But we have a caveat to that caveat: It's unclear why the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, would misreport his conversations to his own people. (Although it's conceivable Kislyak was exaggerating or misunderstood what was said.)

This news also feeds directly into what the FBI, a special counsel and multiple committees in Congress are investigating: Did Trump's campaign work with Russia to influence the election?

Secret back channels. Meeting with the Russians. Forgetting to disclose your meetings with the Russians. (Kushner is just one of several current and former Trump campaign officials who held meetings with the Russians, then forgot to share those meetings.)

If the Trump campaign did not work with Russia to try to influence the election, they certainly had a lot of interactions with the Russians that they didn't want the U.S. government and/or the public to know about.

Which raises the question: What reason would Kushner have to keep talks secret from the U.S. government, when his father-in-law was a month away from being the head of the U.S. government?

Obama officials told Washington Post reporters that the best they can surmise is perhaps Trump's campaign was afraid it'd get out to the media that they were trying to talk to the Russians. News was breaking that U.S. officials thought Russia meddled in the election, and Kushner may have recognized how politically sensitive it would be to meet with the Russians.

It's not unusual for campaigns and transitions to have conversations with foreign leaders, but in this context, it is weird for U.S. campaigns to meet with Russians. It's also unusual for transition teams to request sensitive ways to communicate with foreign governments. And it's really unusual to request a foreign government's help communicating secretly, which is what the Russian ambassador told Russian officials Kushner asked for.

Well before any of this was public, Team Trump's meetings with Russians raised eyebrows for former CIA director John Brennan, who told Congress recently:

"[B] the time I left office on January 20, I had unresolved questions in my mind as to whether or not the Russians had been successful in getting U.S. persons involved in the campaign or not to work on their behalf, again, either in a witting or unwitting fashion. And so, therefore, I felt as though the FBI investigation was certainly well-founded and needed to look into those issues."

Since then, revelations about the Trump campaign's relationship with Russia have made their interactions look more — not less — suspicious. That Kushner may have tried to establish secret communications with the Russians tops that list.

[Rugoz]

I forgot there's another option, namely Russia deliberately feeding the FBI wrong information in order to destabilize America. Sounds like something out of Putin's playbook.

[Beren]

I forgot there's another option, namely Russia deliberately feeding the FBI wrong information in order to destabilize America. Sounds like something out of Putin's playbook.

There is something that may be out of Putin's playbook indeed: Russian Once Tied to Trump Aide Seeks Immunity to Cooperate With Congress

The Russians seem to be trolling America.

[MememyselfandIJK]

Either way, America is now officially a Banana Republic.

Just looked up the exact definition -- it looks just like the US right now

Banana republic is a political science term that describes a politically unstable country in Latin America with an economy dependent upon the exportation of a limited-resource product, e.g. bananas, minerals, etc. Typically, the banana republic has a society of stratified social classes, usually a great, poor working class and a ruling-class plutocracy, composed of the business, political, and military elites of that society.[1] Such a ruling-class oligarchy control the primary sector of the economy by way of the exploitation of labour;[2] thus, the term banana republic is a pejorative descriptor for a servile dictatorship that abets and supports, for kickbacks, the exploitation of large-scale plantation agriculture, especially banana cultivation.

Aside from not being in Latin America and being more industrial than agricultural, America fits the description pretty well.

[jimjam]

Trump should be impeached if he picks his nose.

Give the guy a break. Impeachment only if he eats it.

[Beren]

More diversion tactics from the Democratic Party to stifle and disrupt the good that the Republican Party is trying to bring to America.

It's obvious that Democrats have no interest to Make America Great Again - they prefer America to be like their Detroit.

It must be the Democrats that want to make Pence president so desperately.

Do We Really Want Mike Pence To Be President?

[MememyselfandIJK]

Another link:
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/president-pence-and-gop-congress-could-enact-nightmare-right-wing-agenda

Still doesn't mean that the left likes him though (and for good reason):
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/we-have-obligation-speak-about-donald-trumps-mental-health-issues-our-survival
http://www.alternet.org/trump-flounders-rage-mounts
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/trumps-budget-blueprint-banana-republic-style-military-dictatorship

[Rugoz]

There is something that may be out of Putin's playbook indeed: Russian Once Tied to Trump Aide Seeks Immunity to Cooperate With Congress

The Russians seem to be trolling America.

If you can't beat them, troll them!

Putin is a perfect fit for Russia's post-imperial depression.

[SpecialOlympian]

Saw this on the news last night.

The Russians must be lolling so hard at the Trumps and how fucking easy they were to play. Apparently Kushner was the one who suggested covert backdoor channels of communications. Like, I bet the Russians were thinking, "How can we trick them into implicating themselves?" and then Kushner walks into the office thinking it's a bathroom and shouts, "Here let me help you incriminate myself also where's the potty??"

[Beren]

And Trump didn't know about the whole thing of course.