Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, has been in the public eye as of lately but for all the wrong reasons. In the latest Kushner related news, while seeking a top-secret government security clearance Kushner failed to report dozens of contacts with foreign officials.
According to the New York Times, Kushner failed to report the meetings he had with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak and the head of a Russian state-owned bank, Vnesheconombank, both of which took place in December.
It is a requirement that all seeking security clearance for access to top-secret national security information must provide any and all communications they have had with foreign government officials in the past 7 years.
Jamie Gorelick, Kushner’s lawyer, stated that Trump’s son-in-law spoke with the FBI and said that the day after he submitted the form that he would provide them with additional information.
According to Gorelick, Kushner told the FBI: “During the presidential campaign and transition period, I served as a point-of-contact for foreign officials trying to reach the president-elect. I had numerous contacts with foreign officials in this capacity. … I would be happy to provide additional information about these contacts.”
The Security questionnaire states that “withholding, misrepresenting, or falsifying information” could lead to the loss of clearance, denial of a job, or prosecution.
This just raises a bigger red flag in the Trump/Russia investigation.
The Senate Intelligence Committee announced in late March its plan to question Kushner about the meetings with Kislyak and the bank head as part of its ongoing investigation into Russia’s interference with the 2016 presidential election.
