Jared Kushner and Russia’s ambassador to Washington discussed the possibility of setting up a secret and secure communications channel between Trump’s transition team and the Kremlin, using Russian diplomatic facilities in an apparent move to shield their pre-inauguration discussions from monitoring, according to U.S. officials briefed on intelligence reports.
Ambassador Sergey Kislyak reported to his superiors in Moscow that Kushner, son-in-law and confidant to then-President-elect Trump, made the proposal during a meeting on Dec. 1 or 2 at Trump Tower, according to intercepts of Russian communications that were reviewed by U.S. officials. Kislyak said Kushner suggested using Russian diplomatic facilities in the United States for the communications.
The meeting also was attended by Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser.
The White House disclosed the meeting only in March, playing down its significance. But people familiar with the matter say the FBI now considers the encounter, as well as another meeting Kushner had with a Russian banker, to be of investigative interest.
Gee, ya think?
When I first heard this news my first thought was, wait didn't we already hear this?
That's when I remembered a story from last month about Erik Prince, Betsy DeVos' brother, working to establish the same kind of back channel:
The United Arab Emirates arranged a secret meeting in January between Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a Russian close to President Vladimir Putin as part of an apparent effort to establish a back-channel line of communication between Moscow and President-elect Donald Trump, according to U.S., European and Arab officials.
According to the article the Prince meeting happened about a month or so after Kushner's meeting, which essentially proves that this was something that the Trump team really wanted to set up, and not some spur of the moment suggestion.
Now the question to ask yourself is why in the hell would a presidential transition team want so badly to set up a communication network, controlled by the Russians mind you, that would bypass our own intelligence gathering agencies?
Go ahead, try to think of a reason that does not make this group seem to be the Keystone Kops of Russian spies.
While you are contemplating that I should also inform you that a Russian oligarch with ties to Trump's former campaign manager is now seeking immunity from Congress:
Oleg V. Deripaska, a Russian oligarch once close to President Trump’s former campaign manager, has offered to cooperate with congressional committees investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election, but lawmakers are unwilling to accept his conditions, according to congressional officials.
Mr. Deripaska’s offer comes amid increased attention to his ties to Paul Manafort, who is one of several Trump associates under F.B.I. scrutiny for possible collusion with Russia during the presidential campaign. The two men did business together in the mid-2000s, when Mr. Manafort, a Republican operative, was also providing campaign advice to Kremlin-backed politicians in Ukraine. Their relationship subsequently soured and devolved into a lawsuit.
Like I said in an email to my friend yesterday, what we are seeing right now is no longer just smoke. This is clearly fire.
And perhaps that is why the Senate Intelligence Committee is now requesting ALL campaign documents that relate to Russia.
Source http://ift.tt/2qpUEQI
