Jared Kushner firmly denied collusion with Russia and said that his actions while serving on his father-in-law’s campaign were « proper. »
Jared Kushner on Monday firmly denied collusion with Russia during the 2016 election and said that his actions while serving on his father-in-law’s campaign were « proper. »
« The record and documents I have voluntarily provided will show that all of my actions were proper and occurred in the normal course of events of a very unique campaign, » Kushner said outside the White House.
« Let me be very clear: I did not collude with Russia, nor do I know of anyone else in the campaign who did so. I had no improper contacts. I have not relied on Russian funds for my businesses. And I have been fully transparent in providing all requested information. »
The brief public remarks largely echoed parts of a written statement he released before a Monday interview with the Senate Intelligence Committee. The panel is probing Russian attempts to influence the 2016 election and whether the Trump campaign coordinated with the Kremlin.
Kushner, who worked closely with the Trump campaign and is now a senior White House advisor, has found himself in the thick of the Russia investigations. The scrutiny has only increased after emails showed that a meeting, set up by Donald Trump Jr. and attended by Kushner, was set up after the younger Trump was offered compromising information on then-candidate Hillary Clinton as part of Russia and its government’s support for then-candidate Donald Trump.
Kushner has also faced criticism for previously withholding pieces of information about his contacts with foreign nationals during the campaign.
In the written statement Monday, the president’s son-in-law said that he had not seen the email chain until recently. He also said that he asked his assistant to call him out of the meeting once he realized a Russian lawyer there wanted to talk about adoption policy.
Kushner also denied discussing establishing a secret back-channel with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the U. S. He admitted to meeting with Kislyak at Trump Tower in December, but said that the pair talked about Syria policy.
The president’s son-in-law also said that he met with Russian banker Sergey Gorkov, but added that he did not discuss specific policies.
— AP contributed to this report
