Donald Trump 'may have ordered Jared Kushner to set up secret Russia communication channel'
'I find it hard to believe that he was lone wolfing it on this', says former CIA analyst
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump may have ordered Jared Kushner to try and set up a secret communication link with Russia, a former CIA official has claimed.
Mr Kushner allegedly met with the Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak In December to discuss setting up a channel which would be immune from security monitoring, The Washington Post reported last week.
The revelations provoked outrage in Washington as the investigation into alleged ties between the US government and Moscow rumbles on.
The FBI is thought to be in the process of scrutinising Mr Kushner’s presence at meetings with Mr Kislyak.
Philip Mudd, a security analyst who worked at the CIA for 25 years, suggested Mr Trump may have proposed the channel idea to Mr Kushner or at least approved it, and said it was unlikely Mr Kushner had been working alone.
“There’s a judgment by Jared Kushner and the President’s team that says, ‘I trust the Russians more than I trust the Americans. I’m going to go talk to the Russian embassy because I don’t trust American channels,’” Mr Mudd told CNN.
“I’m going to presume he did this at the behest of the President-elect of the United States. I find it hard to believe that he was lone wolfing it on this, that he developed a plan entirely independent of Donald Trump or Mike Flynn or anybody else.
“He is a member of the family, he is a trusted adviser. But he’s not someone who believes he should just go and run channels, particularly at that point, particularly in the transition period.”
At the weekend President Trump took to Twitter to dismiss the White House leaks involving Russia as “fake news”, and told The New York Times he had “total confidence” in his son-in-law.
Mr Kushner offered in March to be interviewed by the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is also investigating Russia's attempts to interfere in last year's election.
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