Washington Post Reports Jared Kushner Sought Secret Communications Channel with Kremlin

Susan Hennessey
Friday, May 26, 2017, 7:33 PM

The Washington Post is now reporting that Russian ambassador to the United States Sergei Kislyak communicated to Moscow that Jared Kushner had approached him in hopes of establishing a secret communications channel with the Kremlin. The Post reports:

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The Washington Post is now reporting that Russian ambassador to the United States Sergei Kislyak communicated to Moscow that Jared Kushner had approached him in hopes of establishing a secret communications channel with the Kremlin. The Post reports:

Jared Kushner and Russia’s ambassador to Washington discussed the possibility of setting up a secret and secure communications channel between Trump’s transition team and the Kremlin, using Russian diplomatic facilities in an apparent move to shield their pre-inauguration discussions from monitoring, according to U.S. officials briefed on intelligence reports.

Ambassador Sergei Kislyak reported to his superiors in Moscow that Kushner, son-in-law and confidant to then-President-elect Trump, made the proposal during a meeting on Dec. 1 or 2 at Trump Tower, according to intercepts of Russian communications that were reviewed by U.S. officials. Kislyak said Kushner suggested using Russian diplomatic facilities in the United States for the communications.

The meeting also was attended by Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser.

The Post further reports that the FBI considers both this meeting, and an additional meeting between Kushner and a Russian banker, "to be of investigative interest."


Susan Hennessey was the Executive Editor of Lawfare and General Counsel of the Lawfare Institute. She was a Brookings Fellow in National Security Law. Prior to joining Brookings, Ms. Hennessey was an attorney in the Office of General Counsel of the National Security Agency. She is a graduate of Harvard Law School and the University of California, Los Angeles.

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