Did Trump’s Campaign Have A Jewish Backchannel To Putin?

Image by Getty Images

By Nathan Guttman March 6, 2017

The list of Trump advisers and confidants who had met with Russian officials before the elections and during the transition is growing — and it’s getting more Jewish.

Jason Greenblatt, who was Trump’s adviser on Israel and the Jewish community during the campaign and is now his special representative for international negotiations, was also involved in meetings with Russian figures, according to the New York Times

Greenblatt’s counterpart, according to the report, was Rabbi Berel Lazar, Russia’s chief rabbi who is considered an ally of Vladimir Putin.

Lazar, a staunch defender of Putin who urged Russian Jews to avoid criticizing their president, met with Greenblatt during the campaign. The meeting was arranged by public relations executive Joshua Nass.

Greenblatt acknowledged the meeting took place and said it was part of several he held with prominent Chabad rabbis. Greenblatt described the meeting as “probably less than useful” and claimed that it did not focus on U.S.-Russia relations. Lazar, who meets with Putin a couple of times a year, told the Times he did not discuss his conversation with Greenblatt in those meetings.

Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected]

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO