Washington, DC. Recent Investigations into Russian interference in the American presidential election are not just getting close to Donald Trump, they’ve begun to stir up concerns about the chain of command as investigators start to focus on Jared Kushner’s Russian connections.
Jared Kushner emerged last week as a person of interest in the FBI probe into Russian interference in the American 2016 presidential election and possible links to the Trump campaign.
Top White House adviser Jared Kushner attempted to establish a secret communication link with Russia and this has CIA officials wondering if he was acting on his or following order and if so, whose orders told him to go around the intelligence community in efforts to “back channel” with the Russians.
“I’m going to presume he did this at the behest of the president-elect of the United States Donald Trump,” former CIA official Phillip Mudd says.
CIA Officer Mudd is referring to last week’s reports that Kushner met in December with the Russian ambassador to the US to discuss establishing a secret communication channel to the Kremlin that could not be monitored by US intelligence, using Russian facilities.
America has a problem here,“There’s a judgment by Jared Kushner and the president’s team that says, ‘I trust the Russians more than I trust the Americans. I’m going to go talk to the Russian embassy because I don’t trust American channels,’” Mudd ventured.
Trump defended Kushner in a statement to reporters Sunday, saying he has “total confidence in him.” Kushner, Trump added, is “respected by virtually everyone” and “is a very good person.” Meanwhile, the FBI investigation of Trump as a Russian agent continues under special counsel Robert Mueller.