Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, has turned over documents to special counsel Robert Mueller and investigators are asking questions about Kushner’s role in the firing of FBI Director James Comey.
Mueller’s investigators are looking at Kushner as they delve deeper into their probe on Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and whether obstruction of justice was intended when Trump fired Comey earlier this year, CNN reported.
Despite the interest in Kushner, who is also a White House adviser, sources described as close to the White House told CNN that Kushner is not the target of the investigation, which raised questions as to who might be the target as the investigation reaches into President Trump’s inner circle.
The documents Kushner handed over were similar to those that he gave to congressional investigators earlier this year. Both times he handed the documents over voluntarily.
It’s unclear whether or how much Kushner influenced Trump’s decision to fire Comey and there are multiple conflicting sources saying that he either “did not oppose it” or actively advocated for it. It’s also unclear why Kushner would want Comey fired.
The Russia investigation has cast a shadow on the Trump administration this week as Trump’s ex-campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his longtime business partner Rick Gates were both indicted on charges of lobbying on behalf of a pro-Russian leader in Ukraine and for failing to properly register as a foreign agent. Both pleaded not guilty.
Meanwhile, George Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about a meeting he had with a Russian professor who claimed he could give him “dirt” on Hillary Clinton.
The FBI has reportedly been looking into Kushner since before Mueller even took over the investigation for his multiple roles on the Trump campaign and transition team and the 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with Russia’s ambassador and a Russian banker that was left off Kushner’s security clearance form.
