Democrats Want Kushner's Security Clearance Pulled

He says he'll cooperate with Russia investigation
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted May 26, 2017 5:24 AM CDT
Kushner Says He Will Cooperate With Russia Probe
Jared Kushner arrives for a news conference with President Trump and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos last week.   (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Jared Kushner will be cooperating with any probe of Russian links to his father-in-law's campaign, a lawyer confirmed Thursday after reports that investigators are focusing on the senior White House adviser surfaced. Attorney Jamie Gorelick said Kushner has already offered to tell Congress all about his meetings with Russian officials and he will do the same "if contacted in connection with any other inquiry." Sources tell the Wall Street Journal that federal investigators have been looking into Kushner's Russian contacts for months, though he has not yet been contacted by the FBI. In other coverage:

  • Sources tell NBC News that investigators believe Kushner has information that could be very useful to the Russia investigation, though he's not personally suspected of wrongdoing. Kushner met Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak and Russian banker Sergey Gorkov last year.

  • Democrats are calling for Kushner's White House security clearance to be pulled, the Hill reports. "The FBI's Russia investigation reached Trump's backyard, and now it's in his house," DNC Deputy Communications Director Adrienne Watson said in a statement. "Kushner's security clearance should be suspended until the FBI's findings are complete."
  • Investigators are also looking into possible financial crimes, according to the Telegraph, though the Justice Department isn't providing details. "I can't confirm or deny the existence or non-existence of investigations or subjects of investigations," spokesperson Sarah Isgur Flores said.
  • While much is still unclear, there will be plenty of people saying "I told you so" if corruption allegations involving Kushner surface, according to Aaron Blake at the Washington Post. Trump's hiring of a family member for a senior White House role was strongly criticized, and "as any expert on corrupt authoritarian regimes throughout history will tell you, those regimes' wrongdoing will often run through family members with official titles," he writes.
  • In a separate development linked to the Russia investigation, House Oversight Committee chief Rep. Jason Chaffetz said he wants to review former FBI Director James Comey's contacts with the White House and Justice Department going all the way back to 2013, the AP reports. He told acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe that he wants to "better understand" Comey's interactions with the White House. Chaffetz announced his surprise resignation last week, and Republicans are pushing to have him replaced by somebody who will be in office for longer.
(More Jared Kushner stories.)

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