Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, is set to meet with Senate and House intelligence committees Monday in a closed-door investigation involving Russia and the Trump administration. Early Monday, Kushner released an 11-page statement claiming that he had no contact with Russian-government representatives beyond those that have already been publicly disclosed.
As CNN reports:
Kushner offers his first public accounting of what he says are his four meetings with Russians during the 2016 campaign and transition, offering previously undisclosed details of those meetings. The statement comes as federal and congressional investigators are scrutinizing Kushner’s contacts with Russians as part of their probes into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Here’s what’s troubling about the Trump administration’s transparency ruse. After information has been discovered, or members of the administration are set to testify, there is what appears to be a public concession of truth. The Trumpians or Trumpites publicly release a statement of previously undisclosed documentation as if to say, “See, I’ve got nothing to hide.”
When the New York Times was set to disclose that the president’s oldest child, Donald Trump Jr., had met with a Russian lawyer under the pretense that he was going to receive damaging information about Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, Don Jr. took to Twitter to release emails detailing the meeting. It was supposed to be done under the guise of truth, except all of it happened to scoop the New York Times and give the appearance of transparency.
Same is happening with Kushner’s 11-page letter. But don’t be fooled, because here is what we know about Kushner: Either he’s one of the most incompetent people in this administration, which is saying a lot, or, like his father-in-law, he’s a liar.
In January, Kushner blamed an assistant for leaving a portion of his security-clearance form, the portion that just so happens to include meetings and/or dealings with foreign contacts, blank. According to Kushner, the draft of his form was submitted in error and a supplemental form was sent the day after the error was realized.
Recently, Kushner submitted a revised financial disclosure form after he “inadvertently omitted” some $10 million in assets from his original disclosure. We should all be so lucky to forget about $10 million in assets.
Nevertheless, Kushner is set to testify Monday, and don’t expect any groundbreaking news to come from this closed-door meeting. Expect Kushner to claim that there was no collusion between him and the Russians. You can also believe that Kushner will claim as just an oversight the reason his financial and security clearance forms weren’t correct. Kushner is cut from the same cloth as his father-in-law, so expect him to feign ignorance and push the company’s “no collusion” line.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Read more at CNN.