President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and top adviser Jaren Kushner is set to testify before the Senate this week in the latest news on the investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russian operative who attempted to influence the 2016 presidential election.
In preparation for the hearing, Kushner released an 11-page statement Monday detailing four meeting Kushner admits to having with four Russians during the 2016 campaign.
Kushner released the statement voluntarily. His testimony Monday was not under oath, according to the Washington Post.
One of the meetings Kushner described having with Russian officials includes the controversial meeting with a Russian lawyer last June who potentially had dirt on then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Kushner denied reading the full email, which was also forwarded to Trump, that discussed the Russian lawyer’s information.
“I did not collude, nor know of anyone else in the campaign who colluded, with any foreign government,” Kushner said in the statement.
In the document, he defended his meetings with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and other Russian officials. All the meetings Kushner disclosed in his statement were already known.
Kushner also denied allegations that he attempted to set up a “secret back channel” for communication between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.
Like Trump has done, Kushner explained himself as a newcomer to politics and someone who was making decisions “on the fly,” which could have created some appearances of impropriety due to inexperience.
Kushner spent two hours being questioned by senators Monday in a closed-door interrogation.
Following the meeting Kushner addressed reporters, again denying allegations that he colluded with Russians to influence the election and taking the opportunity to affirm Trump’s election. “Donald Trump had a better message and ran a smarter campaign and that is why he won. Suggesting otherwise ridicules those who voted for him,’’ Kushner said, according to the Washington Post.
