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Politics

Kushner withheld Russia meetings on security form

April 7, 2017

Trump's senior advisor Jared Kushner failed to alert the FBI to several meetings with Russian officials despite a legal obligation to do so. His laywer described the omission as an "administrative error."

https://p.dw.com/p/2atzS
Washington Jared Kushner
Image: Getty Images/AFP/N. Kamm

US President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner became the latest White House official tainted by alleged ties to Russia when the New York Times revealed he had omitted some foreign contacts on his security clearance form.

Anonymous sources who had seen the document told the paper that ahead of Trump's inauguration Kushner had met with both Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and the head of state-owned bank Vnesheconombank, Sergey Gorkov.

Anyone applying for top secret clearance is required to list for the FBI all foreign officials they have met with in the past seven years, but Kislyak and Gorkov were missing from paperwork filed by Kushner, who is Ivanka Trump's husband.

Kushner's lawyer Jamie Gorelick said the omission was merely an "administrative error" made during a "very pressed time" as Trump prepared to take on the presidency. Gorelick said that an amended form would be submitted to the FBI, and that in the meantime Kushner had been given an interim level of security clearance.

The real estate developer-turned-presidential advisor has promised to cooperate with a congressional inquiry into ties between Moscow and the Trump presidential campaign and transition team. Dubious communications with Russian officials have already claimed the cabinet post of ex-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.

Elizabeth Schumacher
Elizabeth Schumacher Elizabeth Schumacher reports on gender equity, immigration, poverty and education in Germany.