FBI’s Kushner Focus Appears To Prove Bannon Right

[HAPPY2BME]

05/25/2017

News that White House adviser and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner is under scrutiny in the FBI’s Russia probe comes almost two months after chief strategist Steve Bannon expressed concern that Kushner’s meetings with Russian officials could harm Trump’s presidency.

Multiple news outlets reported Thursday evening that the FBI is looking into Kushner’s meetings with Russian officials after the election as part of the probe into Russian election meddling. Although Kushner has not been accused of any wrongdoing, the news appears to vindicate Bannon’s concerns that Kushner’s meetings would be a major distraction for the Trump White House.

The New York Times reported early last month that Bannon “told confidants that he believes Mr. Kushner’s contact with Russians, and his expected testimony before Congress on the subject, will become a major distraction for the White House.”

Bannon’s words of caution came as he and Kushner were locked in an internal White House power struggle, which Kushner ended up winning as Bannon saw his role diminished.

Kushner also played a key role in bringing Paul Manafort on as Trump’s campaign manager. Manafort, who left the campaign in August, is reportedly considered a formal subject of the FBI’s Russian investigation.


http://dailycaller.com/2017/05/25/fbis-kushner-focus-appears-to-prove-bannon-right/

[HAPPY2BME]

Kushner And Ivanka Played Key Roles In Causing Trump’s Manafort Problem

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner were instrumental in bringing Paul Manafort, now a subject of federal investigation, on to run Trump’s campaign, a new report in The New York Times reveals.

Ivanka and Kushner, her husband, reportedly acted as middlemen between Trump and a friend of Manafort who lobbied to get him onto the campaign.



Manafort’s influence within the campaign grew after Trump fired campaign manager Corey Lewandowski in June, leaving Manafort to run the show as campaign chairman.

According to one report in the New York Post, Ivanka gave her father an ultimatum after growing frustrated with Lewandowski, telling Trump to choose between her and the bomb-throwing campaign manager.

Manafort, who quit the campaign while under fire in August, has faced questions about his Russian ties. The Associated Press reported that a Russian billionaire hired Manafort in 2006 to advance Russian interests in the United States. Manafort maintained a “business relationship” with the billionaire, Putin ally Oleg Deripaska, as late as 2009, according to the AP report.

http://dailycaller.com/2017/04/08/kushner-and-ivanka-played-key-roles-in-causing-trumps-manafort-problem/

[HAPPY2BME]

Jared Kushner Under Scrutiny in Russia Probe, Officials Say

The officials said Kushner is in a different category from former Trump aides Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn, who are formally considered subjects of the investigation. According to the Justice Department's U.S. Attorneys' Manual, "A 'subject' of an investigation is a person whose conduct is within the scope of the grand jury's investigation."

Kushner met at least once in December with the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, and he also met last year with a Russian banker, Sergey Gorkov.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jared-kushner-now-under-fbi-scrutiny-russia-probe-say-officials-n764826

[HAPPY2BME]

Kushner Tried To Set Up Secret Communications Channel With Kremlin

05/26/2017

Jared Kushner proposed setting up a secret, secure communications channel between the Kremlin and the Trump transition team, according to The Washington Post.

Kislyak told his superiors Kushner proposed using Russian diplomatic facilities in the U.S., the officials briefed on the intelligence told The Washington Post. Kislyak was reportedly surprised at the suggestion. The use of Russian communications equipment he said Kushner proposed using carried security risks for both Russia and the Trump transition team.

U.S. officials stressed that the information on Kushner’s meetings is the result of intelligence collected from Russian officials, not surveillance of Kushner or any member of the Trump transition team.


http://dailycaller.com/2017/05/26/report-kushner-tried-to-set-up-secret-communications-channel-with-kremlin/

[HAPPY2BME]

Here is updated analysis of the most recent so called ‘leaks’ being reported and repeated by the liberal mainstream media (MSM) involving President Trump.  The probability that a portion of these ‘leaks’ are completely inaccurate remains very high.

The leaks are all being reported by biased liberal media outlets that were adamantly opposed to the election of President Trump.

These ‘leaks’ in all cases still are not supported with any names of so-called sources and in all cases the ‘leaks’ are meant to destroy the current President.

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/05/leaks-still-from-far-left-msm-outlets-only-still-no-sources-and-still-all-out-effort-to-attack-president-trump/

[HAPPY2BME]

Trump returns home to leaks, Russia, FBI headaches

by Sarah Westwood | May 27, 2017

In Trump's absence, the White House faced new wrinkles in the Russian investigation when former CIA Director John Brennan testified before the House Intelligence Committee and described "contacts and interactions" between Trump campaign associates and Russians that had troubled him. Even though Brennan's testimony provided no new information and made clear that, at the time of his departure from government, the intelligence community did not have evidence to suggest collusion occurred, critics seized on the testimony as further proof of Russian connections.

Leaked portions of Trump's conversation with Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte further complicated the political situation to which Trump will return on Saturday. Although Duterte has earned widespread condemnation from the international community for extrajudicial killings of suspected drug addicts, Trump reportedly praised him for doing an "unbelievable job" on eradicating his country's drug problem.

Trump avoided his usual outlet for controversial statements — Twitter — and stuck to a largely traditional script as he reclaimed his presidential image in meetings with foreign leaders and in cultural engagements. By doing so, he helped the administration beat back characterizations of total chaos, although he will return on Saturday to many of the same controversies that plagued his team before he left.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trump-returns-home-to-leaks-russia-fbi-headaches/article/2624281

[HAPPY2BME]

Kushner Role In White House Suddenly Unclear; May "Return To Private Life"

... what is new is the following detail on the potential future role of Jared Kushner - or lack thereof - who has emerged as the alleged focal point of the FBI's probe into the White House. Here is what the WaPo reported on Saturday:

    Some White House aides have discreetly discussed among one another whether Kushner should play a lesser role — or even take a leave — at least until the Russia-related issues calm, but they have been reluctant to discuss that view with Kushner himself, and Kushner’s network of allies within the West Wing has rallied behind him.
May 27, 2017

    Those close to Kushner said he has no plans to take a reduced role, though people who have spoken to him say that he is increasingly weary of the nonstop frenzy. In recent weeks, the White House also brought on Josh Raffel as a spokesman to handle many of the issues in Kushner’s sweeping portfolio; Raffel works out of a shared office in the West Wing, although he also has space in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

Indeed, which is why going back to Jared Kushner, the NYT separately reported on Saturday that Kushner "has told friends that he and his wife have made no long-term commitment to remain by Mr. Trump’s side, saying they would review every six months whether to return to private life in New York."

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-05-27/kushner-role-white-house-suddenly-unclear-may-return-private-life

[HAPPY2BME]

By Rebecca Savransky - 05/28/17

Assange: ‘Kushner correct to create channels with everyone’

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Sunday said he thinks President Trump's adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner was "correct" if he attempted to set up backchannel communication with Russian leadership.

"Kushner correct to create channels with everyone," Assange tweeted Sunday, following reports that Kushner sought to set up a line of communication between the Trump transition team and Moscow.
"CIA has no authority over leadership and is financially motivated to increase conflict."

    Kushner correct to create channels with everyone. CIA has no authority over leadership and is financially motivated to increase conflict.— Julian Assange (@JulianAssange) May 28, 2017

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/335478-assange-kushner-correct-to-create-channels-with-everyone

[HAPPY2BME]

White House mounts staunch defense of Kushner

The White House on Tuesday offered a vigorous defense of President Trump’s embattled adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Press secretary Sean Spicer sought to cast doubt on the veracity of media reports that Kushner had sought a secret communications channel with Russia during the presidential transition, while simultaneously defending Kushner’s alleged conduct.

Earlier in the day, the Trump retweeted a single-source Fox News article reporting that the Russian ambassador, not Kushner, had suggested a secure back channel for communication.

The heightened scrutiny of Kushner comes after reports that he is now a focus of the federal probe into Russian interference in the presidential election.

Trump has cut loose other close advisors in the past — like former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former campaign manager Paul Manafort — when the scrutiny over their relationships to Russia became too hot.

But Kushner is family — and by all accounts, Trump views family loyalty as paramount.

“Jared is in a very unique position, as is Ivanka [Trump], being the only family members on the executive White House team. They’re not going to be summarily fired like a staffer would,” said Matt Mackowiack, a Republican strategist and a contributor to The Hill.

“My sense is Jared is going to have a longer leash and would be treated differently.”

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/335680-white-house-mounts-staunch-defense-of-kushner

[HAPPY2BME]

What Is the Washington Post Hiding About Its Jared Kushner Story?

Via Daily Caller:

    The Washington Post editors refuse to publicly release the smoking gun “anonymous letter” that serves as the foundation of their sensational charge that White House advisor Jared Kushner sought a secret, back-channel to Russian officials.

    The “anonymous letter” was part of a front-page article claiming the president’s son-in-law sought to set up a private communications channel to Russian officials during a discussion with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. The piece was published Sunday and received high profile coverage throughout the long Memorial Day weekend.

    “The Post was first alerted in mid-December to the meeting by an anonymous letter, which said, among other things, that Kushner had talked to Kislyak about setting up the communications channel,” the article’s three authors stated,

    WaPo also claimed American intelligence agencies discovered the ploy through an intercepted open phone call by Kislyak to Moscow. Observers have noted that Kislyak, a seasoned spy, made the phone call on an “open line,” and therefore knew it was likely to be intercepted.

    To date, there has been no independent verification the letter is real or that WaPo’s description of its contents is accurate. The Washington Post editors also never explain why they withheld the letter.

http://dailycaller.com/2017/05/30/what-is-the-washington-post-hiding-about-its-jared-kushner-story/