Thread: Investigators’ attention on Jared Kushner puts Trump in an awkward position

Investigators’ attention on Jared Kushner puts Trump in an awkward position

By Callum Borchers
May 25 at 7:22 PM

Jared Kushner is the senior White House adviser who is now a significant person of interest in a federal law enforcement investigation of Russian election meddling, The Washington Post reported Thursday. The Post reported last Friday that a high-ranking member of President Trump's staff was a target of the probe but did not identify the aide.

The fact that it is Kushner, rather than another top aide such as Stephen K. Bannon, Reince Priebus or Kellyanne Conway, is significant for the president — by which I mean worse. Kushner is family; he is the husband of Trump's daughter, Ivanka, and the father of Trump's grandchildren. If the investigation were to reveal anything incriminating, it would be far more difficult to scapegoat Kushner than almost anyone else.

I should emphasize, as Matt Zapotosky, Sari Horwitz, Devlin Barrett and Adam Entous did in Thursday's report, that "The Post has not been told that Kushner is a target — or the central focus — of the investigation, and he has not been accused of any wrongdoing."

Plan A for Team Trump will be to argue that there was nothing inappropriate about the contact Kushner had with Russia's ambassador to the United States and executives from a Russian bank that was sanctioned by the Obama administration. But what is Plan B, in the event that the probe shows otherwise?

Under normal circumstances, the backup strategy would be to look for the closest speeding bus. We've already witnessed Trump's willingness to turn on people who appear to be liabilities.

Recall that the president initially stood up for his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and informal adviser, Roger Stone, after the New York Times and CNN reported in February that those two men were among several Trump associates who were in regular contact with Russian intelligence officials throughout the election. At a news conference, Trump called Manafort "a respected man."

"He said that he has absolutely nothing to do — and never has — with Russia," the president told reporters, referring to Manafort. "And he said that very forcefully."

Stone, the president added, "said he never spoke to Russia; never received a call. Look at his phone records."

That was Plan A: Tell everyone that there was no unseemly activity. As the investigation has accelerated, however, Trump has gone to Plan B.

His press secretary, Sean Spicer, told reporters in March that Manafort "played a very limited role for a very limited amount of time." That's cold — and also inaccurate, since Manafort worked on the campaign for five months and ran the entire operation for a while.

Stone has repeatedly told journalists that he and Trump remain in touch, but the president now wants to quash any appearance of coziness. He tweeted this month that he has not spoken with Stone "in a long time."

Remember, also, the way Trump created distance last month between himself and Bannon, who previously appeared to wield unmatched influence in the West Wing.

"I like Steve, but you have to remember he was not involved in my campaign until very late," Trump told the New York Post. "I had already beaten all the senators and all the governors, and I didn't know Steve."

If you become a problem, Trump will freeze you out. That's the pattern. But what if your name is Jared Kushner? The president would be in a much, much tougher position.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.800d15aa333c

Why is the Washington Post printing article after article about the same old news? Jared met with a banker and an Ambassador from Russia during the transition. We already know that. So what? Russia and Russian businesses want to get in good with the new President. So what? Who doesn't? Every country wants to get in good with Trump after he won the election. The Japanese Prime Minister met with Trump during the transition. The President of Mexico met with Trump during the campaign. Are they "colluding"?

IMO, Kushner should have never been a part of the Trump team.

Jared Kushner does not seem to be supportive of much of what Americans who voted for President Trump want to see take place in our nation. He nor his wife really seem to embrace an "America First" thinking.

The focus on Mr. Kushner's associations with Russia appear to be more of the non-stop "Russia, Russia, Russia" diversion to keep the Trump agenda from going forward whether or not anything he said or did deserves more scrutiny.

Jared and Ivanka should go back to New York pretty soon. I think Jared has the unique ability to help Trump work a lasting peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians. Trump thinks so and I'm going to follow his lead on this because I know this is an important goal. He promised on the campaign trail he would try and give it his best and he will do that. If he thinks Jared and Greenblatt and others he's involved to achieve this can do it, then lets give them a chance to succeed. Ivanka sees issues for women, and we have issues, parents have issues, too, and child care for working people is a huge issue, mostly for women who want and need to work and yes the paid maternity leave is also an issue, but to me that issue is secondary to the child care issue while working. Not sure what the solution is for child care, but I like the tax deduction for it. The best solution to all of these issues is more jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs. The more jobs the more employers will do out of their pockets to solve some of these problems through competitive hiring policies and benefit programs. Not sure it's a government issue beyond tax deductions for child care, for so long as we have an income tax.