Jared Kushner Under Scrutiny in Russia Probe, Say Officials
Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and one of his senior advisers, has come under FBI scrutiny in the Russia investigation, multiple U.S. officials told NBC News.
Investigators believe Kushner has significant information relevant to their inquiry, officials said. That does not mean they suspect him of a crime or intend to charge him.
The FBI's scrutiny of Kushner places the bureau's sprawling counterintelligence and criminal investigation not only on the doorstep of the White House, but the Trump family circle. The Washington Post first reported last week that a senior White House official close to Trump was a "person of interest," but did not name the person. The term "person of interest" has no legal meaning.
The officials said Kushner is in a different category from former Trump aides Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn, who are formally considered subjects of the investigation. According to the Justice Department's U.S. Attorneys' Manual, "A 'subject' of an investigation is a person whose conduct is within the scope of the grand jury's investigation."
Records of both Manafort and Flynn have been demanded by grand jury subpoenas, NBC News has reported.
Related: Feds Subpoena Records for $3.5M Mystery Mortgage on Manafort's Home
It is not known whether Kushner has received any records requests from federal investigators.
Jared Kushner departs the White House with President Donald Trump on March 15. Win McNamee / Getty Images
Also unclear is what precisely about Kushner's activities has drawn the FBI's interest as it investigates whether Trump associates coordinated with the Russian campaign to interfere in the election. Former FBI Director Robert Mueller is now leading the probe as a special counsel.
Kushner met at least once in December with the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, and he also met last year with a Russian banker, Sergey Gorkov.
Related: Flynn, Manafort Are Key Figures in Russia Probe That Mueller Will Lead
"Mr. Kushner previously volunteered to share with Congress what he knows about these meetings," Kushner's lawyer, Jamie Gorelick, told NBC News. "He will do the same if he is contacted in connection with any other inquiry."
Congressional aides have said they would like to question Kushner about that meeting, and Kushner has said he would voluntarily appear before the Senate intelligence committee as part of its Russia investigation.
Gorkov is chairman of VneshEconomBank, a Russian government-owned institution that has been under U.S. sanctions since July 2014. Gorkov studied at the training school for the FSB, one of Russia's intelligence services.
Kushner, whose family's real estate empire is worth $1.8 billion, according to Forbes, wields significant power in the White House. He is married to Trump's daughter, Ivanka.
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This has been the rumor since The Washington Post aid the FBI was looking at a "Person of Interest" close to Trump last Friday. I don't think that anyone is surprised that it is him. His previously undisclosed meeting with Russian bankers in December with close ties to Putin and the Russian Intelligence Agency (FSB) has apparently piqued the FBI's interest. He has also apparently failed to disclose dozens of other meetings with other foreign officials before the election and during the transition while the Obama Administration was still in charge. None of these meeting were disclosed on his forms that he filled out when applying for his National Security Clearance.
Congressional aides have said they would like to question Kushner about that meeting, and Kushner has said he would voluntarily appear before the Senate intelligence committee as part of its Russia investigation.
Will he do so under oath? Or to Robert Mueller?
Good question.
As much as I'd love to hear what he has to say, I'd much rather he talk under oath to the Special Consul on the record, under the penalty of perjury, with his own lawyer and without any influence from his father-in-law. If Flynn's lawyer says he has a story to tell, you can bet that, if he thinks he might end up in prison, Jared's would be much more interesting. After all, Donald is not blood.
I think Jared Kushner is as slimy as his father, and that guy was like green snot with a heaping side of raw egg-whites.
And I hope someone looks into that $100,000,000,000 Saudi arms deal just a little closer.
I think that I have to bleach my brain after that description of Jared. LOL
True, but if I had to give immunity to someone to nail Trump's hide to the wall, I think it'd better an easier case to make with Jared on the stand then Flynn.
Besides the irony would be sooooo RICH! The book and movie would both be YUGE!
It's amazing, isn't it, how capable NT members are of smearing filth and accusing of wrongdoing on whomever they please without providing one iota of evidence of guilt of any crime or misdemeanor.
where are the laws of libel and slander in the USA?
Hey, my father escaped from Russia when he was 13 and went to Canada. Where's my subpeona? Why aren't I being slandered as a Commie spy? Maybe I'm hiding in China like Assange is hiding in the Ecudorian Embassy. Come on, NT members, go for extradition of Buzz of the Orient. Surely you must think I'm a criminal because of my ancestry and because of my present address. Let's see the innuendo. If it's good enough to smear Kushner with it, it should be even easier to smear me.
Buzz,
You are a private citizen (though not of the United States) and Jared Kushner and Donald Trump are public/political figures. In the United States the laws apply differently to public figures as far as conjecture then they do toward private citizens. In this country people can accuse a political figure of wrongdoing based on reporting in papers or on TV reports, etc. and their own opinion with no proof of their own. People can even make fun of them and satirize them, make jokes about them, even cruel ones and ones that have no basis in truth if they are public figures, without being sued for slander or libel. This is based on our Freedom of Speech and has been upheld many times by our Supreme Court, most recently if I recall in the case of Hustler Magazine v Falwell.
No one here has violated any laws or smeared anyone. That is strictly your opinion.
where are the laws of libel and slander in the USA?
Oh please ! Its reported in ALL the media that Jared is under scrutiny by the FBI. What law is that breaking ?
Take a deep breath.
NT's "Sister":
"I think Jared Kushner is as slimy as his father, and that guy was like green snot with a heaping side of raw egg-whites."
"Visit the sins of the fathers......"
Oh please ! Its reported in ALL the media that Jared is under scrutiny by the FBI. What law is that breaking ?
That would be...none at all.
NT's "Sister":
Made me think of this...
Do you remember this Buzz ? I recall one of the lawyers referring to Dee Snider as "Mr. Sister", funny.