our ability to know what the russians are up to? just because you have a back channel, if indeed that s what jared was after, it doesn t mean that he then keeps everything secret. i mean, he shares that. but the back channels, as i understand it and of course every administration has had it forever. back channel communications with people are ways to communicate with people, again, not in front of the press as an example, but that information is not necessarily kept secret from the rest of the government. does jared kushner have the same level of security clearance that you do? i don t know. on intelligence? i don t know. is that something you should know? not necessarily. everything we do in the security world, classification world, of course before i would start talking to anyone, i would make sure that they had the requisite security clearance. i m cleared for top secret compartmented sci, that kind of thing.
you have. did you think it was okay here. did you think it was okay to do it elsewhere. they re going to take this moment and say, if you tried to set up back channel communications with russians, knowing that there was a scandal about their role in the presidential elections, did you try to do this elsewhere. they i think if you stand by this and you use the i didn t know it was wrong defense, what else did you do that you didn t think was wrong? if you didn t think it was wrong to communicate with the russians as a nongovernment official talking about, according to the new york times syria and trying to have mike flynn, about military matters, i think that was the didn t think it was wrong to have your sister go to china and try to market to raise money through the eb-5 visa program at the very least is a sleazy cheesy program. it is wrong. if he didn t think this is wrong what else did he do that he didn t think it was wrong. you can t defend it and say it s
and be more presidential. jonathan, the trump administration s line about the washington post report is that back channel communications generally speaking as we saw on meet the press would be a good thing, however, if this is true, this isn t back-channel. this is covert, to avoid detection of american intel during a transition period which basically undermines the current sitting administration. so if true, how serious is it? i think it s very serious. there are a couple of distinct issues that are brought up here, number one, you ve got a private citizen of the trump administration not actually come into office conducting foreign policy that might have been at odds with the existing administration s. number two, jared kushner potentially attempting to have meetings or discussions, if the story is true, between the trump administration or transition and russian officials on russian property where the russians would be able to monitor but maybe not the american side, and then
secret back channel communications. you wouldn t forget about that meeting on your security clearance form. then when he was told to revise the form he lied again because reuters reported two additional contact with the russians that he failed to disclose. is there enough here for prosecution? it s difficult to say but what is not difficult to say is how important it is when you re filling out those forms and you re seeking a u.s. government security clearance, to be open and honest. i think the lesson here is if you re not open and honest, we are going to catch you. lynn, there is no chance, at least what we are hearing now, and banner across the bottom of the field, saying kushner is not going anywhere, but they are starting to create this war room, the reporting shows. let me put up some of the faces here of people who are potentially members of this war room. i want you to set me straight here. because you ve been covering
house columnist at the hill. erin, if the post report is true, explain the game changer this really means for the trump white house. well, it s a big deal because it involves jared kushner. of course, jared kushner is one of the most influential advisers to president trump. that s where i think the problem is. now, the white house officials have been right that they have to do some sort of russia policy and they can set up back channel communications, but the fact that it was jared kushner that had done it after we learned of some of these other communications that happened during the campaign, that s a big problem. what they need to do is get in front of it and actually produce jared kushner to explain what it is he was doing. well, and he is the least heard from member of the senior staff within the white house. nile, i know you ve been writing about this and other challenges for president trump that confront him back home after he s back from his foreign trip. these revoluti