Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, faces questions in a closed-door interview Tuesday with the House Intelligence Committee as part of its probe into Russian meddling in last year’s election. As he entered the hearing room, Kusher smiled but did not speak to reporters.
He spoke Monday to the Senate Intelligence Committee in a similar closed-door session, while also publicly denying that he or anyone else with the Trump campaign had any improper contacts with Russia leading up to or after the November 2016 vote.
“I did not collude with Russia, nor do I know of anyone else in the campaign who did so,” Kushner said at the White House in a brief statement after the meeting with the Senate committee investigators.
“I had no improper contacts,” Kushner said. “I have not relied on Russian funds for my businesses, and I have been fully transparent in providing all requested information.” He said that all of his “actions were proper, and occurred in the normal course of events of a very unique campaign.”
WATCH: Kushner delivers statement after Senate meeting
Trump applauds Kushner
President Trump used Twitter on Tuesday to express satisfaction with what Kushner said Monday.
Manafort also questioned
As part of the Russia probe, Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, met Tuesday with bipartisan staff of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Manafort “answered their questions fully,” said Manafort spokesman Jason Maloni.
Manafort submitted to the Senate Intelligence Committee his notes from the meeting, the Washington Post reported, citing a source familiar with the probe.
Manafort is being scrutinized about his participation in a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., described as part of a Russian effort to assist the Trump campaign.
That meeting has become a focal point for numerous investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election aimed at helping Trump win after his son Donald Jr. released emails expressing eagerness for what he expected the Russian attorney would provide: incriminating material about Democrat Hillary Clinton, Trump’s 2016 election opponent.
In a written statement issued before his Monday appearance on Capitol Hill, Kushner confirmed that he, the younger Trump and Manafort met with a Russian lawyer and other figures tied to Moscow last June, but asserted he arrived late to the meeting and heard no discussions of the presidential campaign.
Trump Jr., and Manafort are also sharing information with another panel, the Senate Judiciary Committee.
They were initially scheduled to appear before the committee this week, but that testimony has been postponed based on an understanding that the two men will provide the committee with records and other information.
Nevertheless, the Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena Monday night to compel Manafort to testify after failing to “reach an agreement for a voluntary transcribed interview” with the committee. A Judiciary Committee statement said Manafort agreed to provide only one transcribed interview to Congress, “which would not be available to the Judiciary Committee members or staff.”
“While the Judiciary Committee was willing to cooperate on equal terms with any other committee to accommodate Mr. Manafort’s request, ultimately that was not possible,” the statement said.
Key events omitted
Kushner, in his statement Monday, made no mention of some key events that are pertinent to the Russia probe, including President Trump’s firing of former Federal Bureau of Investigation director James Comey, who was leading the agency’s Russia probe before Special Counsel Robert Mueller, another former FBI director, took over.
Kushner’s statement does not rule out the possibility of Russian election interference, which the U.S. intelligence community has concluded was directed by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Rather, it asserts that Kushner himself had no interactions or knowledge about plots from Moscow by himself or anyone else.
