Schiff says there's "a lot of ground to cover" in Kushner questioning
The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam Schiff, says there will be "a lot of ground to cover" when it hears from Jared Kushner.
"There's a lot we want to know," Schiff said on "Face the Nation. "We certainly want to know about several of the meetings that have been alleged to have taken place. Obviously the meeting with Donald Jr. and the several Russians that we now know were in that meeting."
CBS News' Major Garrett recently reported that Kushner, who is President Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, updated a federal disclosure form to obtain a security clearance three times -- adding more than 100 names of foreign contacts after initially providing none at all. One update submitted before July added a name that was previously left out -- that of Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, who met with Trump Jr., Kushner and Paul Manafort in June 2016.
The first form had no foreign names on it even though people applying for a security clearance need to list any contact with foreign governments. Kushner's team said it was prematurely sent, Garrett reported.
Schiff, a California Democrat, said Sunday that the House Intelligence Committee is also expected to ask -- during Tuesday's closed-session meeting -- about Kushner's alleged conversations with former Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak regarding setting up a secret back-channel communication to the Kremlin.
Kushner is also expected to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Monday.
While the investigation continues into Trump associates' ties to the Russian government, Schiff says that Mr. Trump himself is "clearly worried" about the direction special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation is going, amid comments the president made about Attorney General Jeff Sessions' decision to recuse himself from the investigation.
"It does concern me that the president should bring this up now if it's an indication that he wants to somehow push Sessions out and get in a new attorney general who would then take Rod Rosenstein's place as supervising the Mueller investigation," Schiff said.
He added, "If this is part of a longer-term stratagem to define or confine the scope of the Mueller investigation, that would be very concerning."
CBS News' John Dickerson asked Schiff about a U.S. intercept -- first reported by The Washington Post. Citing current and former U.S. officials, the Post reported on Friday that former Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak told his superiors that he discussed campaign-related issues with Jeff Sessions during the 2016 race for the White House.
A former U.S. intelligence official told CBS News on Saturday that the Post's story is accurate. U.S. intelligence intercepted electronic communications between then-Ambassador Kislyak and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in which Kislyak said he and Sessions discussed campaign issues at meetings the two men had. However, a former U.S. official said it is possible Kislyak was lying about his conversations with Sessions, CBS News' Jeff Pegues reported.
Sessions has gone on the record with lawmakers. He testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee in June, initially saying he did not have "private meetings" or recall any "conversations" with any Russian officials at the hotel. He later admitted that he may have had an encounter with Kislyak.
On Sunday, Schff said, "Well, you know, it wouldn't be objectionable if he had been straightforward and honest about it with the Senate," Schiff said. "But, of course, he initially denied having any such meetings. And then he acknowledged such meetings but said that they weren't about the campaign."
Schiff added the denial is "part of a pattern" for Trump administration associates.
"If the members of the Trump team were honest, and transparent, and forthcoming about these things, it would raise a lot less questions. But, of course, that has not been the case."
