Jared Kushner volunteers to speak with the Senate Intelligence Committee
President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has volunteered to speak with the Senate Intelligence Committee, a White House official said Monday, for the congressional investigation into Russian efforts to meddle with the 2016 U.S. election.
The official explained that he has volunteered to speak with lawmakers because of his role as the official primary point of contact between Trump administration officials and foreign governments.
The committee confirmed that Kushner will meet with its members as part of the ongoing investigation into Russia. It would not confirm when the meeting will occur.
The New York Times first reported Monday that the Senate panel wants to question Kushner in its probe, which also involves possible ties or coordination between Mr. Trump’s associates and Russian officials. The White House Counsel’s office had been informed that the Intelligence Committee wanted to question Kushner about meetings he arranged with the Russian ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak, the report said.
This comes after FBI Director James Comey told the House Intelligence Committee in public testimony last week that the bureau is running an investigation into possible connections or coordination between Trump associates and the Russian government.
After that hearing, its chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-California, revealed to reporters last week that it’s possible that Trump’s personal communications might have been picked up by the intelligence community through “incidental collection.” He said that the intelligence community collected information about members of the Trump transition team on numerous occasions, the information was widely disseminated, and there was additional unmasking of these names. Nunes added that the surveillance had nothing to do with Russia, the investigation into Russian meddling in the election or the Trump transition itself.
The panel’s top Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-California, said in an interview later in the day that there is now “more than circumstantial evidence” that Trump associates colluded with the Russians to interfere in the U.S. election.
CBS News’ Jillian Hughes and John Nolen contributed to this report.
