Report: Special Counsel Investigating Jared Kushner’s Business Dealings
Jared Kushner Image by Department of Defense
By Aiden Pink June 15, 2017
The finances and business dealings of presidential advisor/son-in-law Jared Kushner are being investigated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller as part of the official inquiry into Russia’s role in the 2016 presidential election, the Washington Post reported Thursday.
It was previously reported that investigators were looking into Kushner’s December meetings — which were not originally disclosed on his security clearance application — with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the U.S., and Sergey Gorkov, a graduate of the academy of the KGB’s successor organization and the head of a state-owned Russian bank that is subject to American sanctions.
However, the Post’s newest dispatch is the first time that it has been specifically reported that the FBI is investigating Kushner’s business practices.
Those meetings raised suspicions when they were revealed to the public. At the meeting with Kislyak, Kushner reportedly suggested using Russian diplomatic equipment to set up a “back-channel” between Washington and Moscow, which one Republican former State Department official called “not normal.” And the White House has said that the meeting with Gorkov was on official presidential transition business, but the bank itself claimed that Kushner was representing his real estate company.
“We do not know what this report refers to,” Jamie Gorelick, a lawyer for Kushner, told the Post. “It would be standard practice for the Special Counsel to examine financial records to look for anything related to Russia. Mr. Kushner previously volunteered to share with Congress what he knows about Russia-related matters. He will do the same if he is contacted in connection with any other inquiry.”
Contact Aiden Pink at pink@forward.com or on Twitter @aidenpink.
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