President Donald Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner has been in the headlines after reports said last month he was a focus of investigation in the FBI’s Russian Federation investigation.
In a subsequent early-morning tweet, Trump called the investigation “the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history”.
Despite suggestions by a Trump friend in a television interview that the president was weighing dismissing Mueller as special counsel, the White House declared late Tuesday that there was no such plan. Now I can’t prove that, of course, and it remains to be seen whether Mueller can either. The unnamed sources claim that Kushner discussed setting up a confidential line of communication between Trump and Russian officials during the Kislyak meeting.
Trump on Thursday took to Twitter to say the probe is being “led by some very bad and conflicted people!”
That suggests Mueller is examining the president’s own conduct, which may include whether Trump tried to obstruct justice.
Mueller is investigating the finances and business dealings of Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, as part of the probe into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, according to officials familiar with the matter.
“We do not know what this report refers to”, Jamie Gorelick, Kushner’s lawyer, told the newspaper.
Special counsel Robert Mueller has brought 13 lawyers on board to handle the Russian Federation investigation, with plans to hire more, according to his spokesman Peter Carr.
As the Post noted, Kushner is just the latest associate of the president to be under scrutiny for questionable business dealings with Russian Federation. Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence has hired Richard Cullen, chairman of McGuireWoods. Coats told associates that Trump asked him whether he could intervene with Comey to get the Federal Bureau of Investigation to back off its focus on Flynn, the officials said. “We worked through all of that”, Burr told reporters.
Mueller is in the preliminary stages of his probe and has recruited a team of top investigators experienced in money laundering, campaign finance violations and eastern European organized crime.
US officials familiar with the investigation told The Washington Post about its financial focus Thursday. He continued to denounce ongoing congressional investigations into his campaign and Russian Federation, reiterated his disdain for the news media and touted what he perceived as his administration’s successes. “The continued illegal leaks are the only crime here”. Flynn was forced to resign for misleading administration officials about his contacts with Russia’s United States ambassador. Comey testified that the member of his leadership team said that although it was true at the moment that Trump was not under investigation, it was possible that could change.
Trump’s spokesman said when he dismissed Comey on 9 May that the reason was the former FBI chief’s handling of the investigation into Democrat Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. He cited the recommendation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his deputy, Rod Rosenstein. Trump and the White House disputed Comey’s description of the events.
The US president has repeatedly denied any connections to Russian Federation and expressed desire to end the probe with integrity as soon as possible.