The son-in-law and senior adviser of President Donald Trump, Jared Kushner spoke to the press on his involvement with Russians, after information of meetings that took place between Kushner and Russian contacts were revealed. Kushner addressed the statement to the Hill Intelligence committees, concerning his contact with Russians during his father-in-law’s presidential campaign. This came after the defeated candidate, Hillary Clinton’s emails were hacked through her campaign’s chairman, John Podesta. Experts believe that Russian hacking groups were behind the cyber-attack that left Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and image stained. Podesta claimed that Donald Trump and his team were responsible as well, to help swing the election results.
In his 11-page long statement, Kushner denied colluding with the Russian government. This was also the first time Kushner publicly accounted for his interactions with the Russians. Here are some highlights of the statement recorded by CNN:
· Kushner says he had four contacts with Russians last year. The first was a handshake with then-Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak before a Trump speech in April. The second was a highly controversial meeting with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower in June. The third was a meeting with Kislyak during the transition. And the fourth was with Russian state-run banker Sergey Gorkov during the transition.
· He says none of these interactions were about collusion or election interference, saying, "I did not collude, nor know of anyone else in the campaign who colluded, with any foreign government."
· Kushner denied reading the full email forwarded to him by Donald Trump Jr. before the Trump Tower meeting. That email explained that the Russian lawyer wanted to meet with Trump campaign officials to give them information from the Kremlin that would hurt Clinton, as part of its effort to help Trump.
· Kushner denied a Reuters report that said he spoke with Kislyak on the phone twice during the campaign. That report cited seven unnamed sources saying Kushner spoke with Kislyak on the phone at least twice between April and November 2016. Kushner's lawyers denied the story when it came out in May. Kushner said in his statement that he checked some of his phone records and that his team hasn't found "any calls to any number known to be associated with Ambassador Kislyak."
· For the first time, Kushner said he got an email one week before the election from someone he didn't recognize called "Guccifer400." The email threatened to release Trump's tax returns unless Kushner paid hush money. Kushner says he ignored the email at the advice of a Secret Service agent. The US government says Russia created an online persona called Guccifer 2.0 as a front to release emails it stole during the campaign, but there is no indication that Guccifer400 was part of the Russian meddling effort.
Renowned author, Jean Robert Revolus has looked into the case of Russian interference in the 2016 Election in his book, The U.S. Election 2016: NO COLLUSION?978-1-95-163003-4. Revolus goes into intricate details of the entire ordeal and presents readers with information, which can change their outlook on American politics.
About the Author
Jean Robert Revolus is a graduate of Colorado Technical University and has earned a Bachelors in Business Administration focusing on Information Technology. Revolus is a devoted Christian, an accomplished writer, and a loving husband and father.
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