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Trump’s Son-in-Law Denies Collusion but Says Met Russians 4 Times | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. (photo credit:KEVIN LAMARQUE/REUTERS)


Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner on Monday said he had roughly four meetings with Russian officials during the 2016 campaign and presidential transition but denied any collusion to help his father-in-law Donald Trump be elected president, US media said.

In a written 11-page statement Kushner released hours before his appearance before the Senate intelligence committee in closed-door sessions, he described contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and other Russian officials as normal in his former role as the campaign liaison to foreign governments, the Washington Post said.

“I did not collude, nor know of anyone else in the campaign who colluded, with any foreign government,” Kushner wrote.

“I had no improper contacts. I have not relied on Russian funds to finance my business activities in the private sector,” he said, according to the Post report.

Kushner will testify before the Senate intelligence committee on Monday, according to his lawyer, and the and the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee on Tuesday.

The 36-year-old billionaire investor working at his first political position was to be asked about his meetings with Russia’s ambassador to Washington, the head of a major Russian bank and a Russian lawyer — the latter along with Trump’s son Donald Jr.

Kushner, who is married to Trump’s eldest daughter Ivanka, plans to submit the statement for the record.

Special counsel and former FBI director Robert Mueller is leading an investigation into possible collusion. The House and Senate, however, have organized separate probes.

Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. released emails this month that showed he appeared to welcome the prospect of damaging information from the Russian government about Trump’s Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.

Members of both committees say they are eager to hear about the June 2016 meeting involving Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. Trump’s son, Kushner and former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort all participated in the meeting.

According to the statements he will provide to the congressional committees, Kushner says the meeting was such a “waste of time” that he asked his assistant to call him out of the gathering.