Steady stream of leaks on the Russian Investigation that have dominated the weeks headlines. Just moments after arriving back at the white house last night, the president was immediately confronted with new reports about his soninlaw and Senior Advisor Jared Kushner. This was the question sent out. Did he respond. Mr. President , did jared try to set up a back channel to russia . All right. No response there from the president. Lets go now to cnns washington correspondent, ryan nobles. Ryan, so far administration there has refused to comment, to say anything more about this proposed secret communication line thats being reported about to the kremlin. So they are meeting with the attorneys and maybe others. But when might we hear something more concrete from the white house. Fredricka, thats a great question. Weve been asking specifically, can you confirm or deny this report that said that Jared Kushner attempted to set up this secret back channel with the russian government during the
Paper. It says Jared Kushner and russias ambassador to washington discussed the possibility of setting up a secret and secure channel between trumps Transition Team and the kremlin using russian diplomatic facilities in a move to shield their preinauguration discussions from monitoring. The post quotes officials briefed on this intelligence. This means the man closest to the president allegedly wanted to talk outside of known u. S. Channels and u. S. Officials know this because they intercepted the Russian Ambassador to moscow with the surprise that the kremlin had been invited in so close to the Trump White House. As the post reports, ambassador reportedly was taken aback by the suggestion of allowing an american to use Russian Communications gear at the embassy or consulate that would have carried security risks for moscow as well as the trump team. The White House Traveling overseas did not comment on the story as of yet. There was a second report in the Washington Post that went up
The Washington Post reported that investigators had identified a Current White House official as a, quote, significant person of interest. Then on monday, the post reported that trump had asked Senior Intelligence officials back in march to push back publicly against comeys comments on the investigation. On tuesday, former cia director john brennan testified that he saw intelligence that revealed contacts and interactions between russian officials and Trump Campaign associates that warranted further investigation. Then yesterday, nbc broke the news that Jared Kushner, that of course the president s soninlaw, was under fbi scrutiny according to nbc, quote, investigators believe kushner has significant information relevant to their inquiry. That does not mean they suspect him of a crime or intend to charge him. Today, nbcs Peter Alexander reporting that the white house is preparing for a new reality when it comes to dealing with this widening investigation. Officials are setting up a war
Talk to a member of the House Intel Committee about what comes next. Our top story tonight is the even bigger story in the washington pose, the headline, Russian Ambassador told moscow that Kushner Wanted Secret Communications Channel with kremlin. Were just going to read for you the first few pair grafs of this reporting because it is quite rashable. Jared kushner and russias ambassador to washington discussed the possibility of setting up a secret and secure Communications Channel between trumps Transition Team and the kremlin using russian diplomatic facilities in an apparent move to shield their preinauguration discussions from monitoring. Reading Sergey Kislyak reported to his superiors in moscow that kushner made the proposal during a meeting on december 1st or 2 understand at trump tower according to intercepts of Russian Communications reviewed by american officials. It was also attended by Michael Flynn. Theres a lot there. Lets just pause on one staggering fact because we can
Tonights reuters report also notes fbi investigators are examining whether russians suggested to kushner or other trump aides that relaxing economic sanctions would allow russian banks to offer financing to people with ties to trump, said the current u. S. Law enforcement official. Who was a source for that article. Joining us now is jonathan landay, the reuters reporter who has just broken this story. Jonathan, this is a story coming on top of an earlier story tonight by the Washington Post. But tonight its all about Jared Kushner. Its all about how much contact did he have with russian officials, and what has reuters learned . So weve learned there were at least three calls between Jared Kushner and the Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Two of them before the election, and there were contacts after the election. Not only between mr. Kushner and mr. Kislyak, but also President Trumps former National Security adviser general Michael Flynn. We learned and we repted this last week about