Jared Kushner’s Russia ‘Back Channel’ Spurs Questions From Mueller

Jared Kushner Image by Getty Images

By Josh Nathan-Kazis May 1, 2018

Special prosecutor Robert Mueller wants to ask President Trump about Jared Kushner’s efforts to open a secret backchannel to the Russians during the presidential transition, the New York Times reported yesterday.

Mueller’s list, leaked to the Times, includes dozens of questions for the president. Only one of the questions mentions Kushner by name. But it indicates pervading interest by Mueller in Kushner’s efforts to serve as a quiet link between the Russian governmentand the campaign.

Kushner has admitted to pursuing a backchannel with Russian ambassador. He told Congress that he had suggested using “an existing communications channel at the Russian embassy.”

According to the list obtained by the Times, Mueller plans to ask what the president knew during the presidential transition the efforts at opening the back-channel. It’s one of a number of back channels that Mueller has questions about, including one involving Erik Prince, the mercenary and brother of Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, and others about Roger Stone and Wikileaks, and Paul Manafort and Russia.

Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at nathankazis@forward.com or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis.

Josh Nathan-Kazis is a staff writer for the Forward. He covers charities and politics, and writes investigations and longform.

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