Lawyer: Kushner ‘Has No Recollection’ Of Reported Undisclosed Russian Contacts

Top presidential adviser Jared Kushner’s legal team pushed back Friday night against a report that the White House senior adviser and Trump son-in-law had at least three undisclosed contacts with a Russian ambassador during and after the 2016 presidential campaign, saying he had “no recollection” of the alleged exchanges.

“Mr. Kushner participated in thousands of calls in this time period. He has no recollection of the calls as described,” Kushner’s lawyer Jamie Gorelick told POLITICO in a statement, responding to a Reuters report about Kushner’s contacts with Russian ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak.

“We have asked (Reuters) for the dates of such alleged calls so we may look into it and respond, but we have not received such information,” Gorelick added.

But Kushner’s legal team was silent about other reports that President Donald Trump’s son-in-law sought to establish a secret line of communications with the Kremlin. The White House did not respond to requests for comment on the reports.

According to Reuters, Kushner held at least two phone calls between April and November of last year with Kislyak, who’s represented Russian President Vladimir Putin in Washington since 2008.

In a separate report, the Washington Post reported Kushner sought to establish secret communications with the Kremlin during a transition meeting with Kislyak. Per the Post, Kislyak said he talked to Kushner about installing secure lines between the Trump transition and Russian officials at foreign facilities to avoid conversations being monitored.

The New York Times reported that the purpose of the channel was to allow then-national security adviser Michael Flynn to communicate directly with Moscow about Syria and other security issues. The lines were never set up, the Times reported. Flynn, who is under investigation, was dismissed in February amid reports that he lied to Vice President Mike Pence about the extent of his contacts with Kislyak. Read more at POLITICO.

{Matzav}