According to a latest Washington Post scoop, the special investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US Presidential elections, and possible links to Donald Trump's campaign, will now look into the President's son-in-law, jared kushner's business dealings. The latest development in the ongoing Russia saga is a setback to the White House considering Kushner is one of the President's key advisors and was a big part of the presidential campaign.
Kushner in crosshairs again
Federal officials who are close to the investigation spoke to the Washington Post about the situation.
They allegedly stated that Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel leading the investigation, has now decided to look into Kushner's business and financial dealings, including Kushner's meetings with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Kushner allegedly asked the diplomat to set up a hotline with Kremlin, something that is already under investigation. However, the new development is related to a meeting with a representative of the Russian bank that reportedly happened before Trump's inauguration.
The bank had already received sanctions from the US after Putin invaded Crimea. The White House has stated that the meeting with the bank representative was diplomatic in nature, but investigators believe that during the meeting Kushner was trying to extract financing from Vnesheconombank for a project.
His company had been looking to buy a building worth $1.8 billion on Fifth Avenue and the financing would have gone towards that acquisition.
Too early to speculate
The story about Kushner's business being under investigation is a big one. It brings forth many questions, but it is clearly too early to speculate whether any criminality was involved.
In addition to that, the investigation is still at a relatively new and could take months, even years, to reach a conclusion.
One of Jared Kushner's attorneys, Jamie Gorelick stated that their client will fully cooperate with the investigators as he has done in the past. In addition, Kushner's legal team states that it is quite common for special counsel to look into the financial dealings of an individual if he is investigated for his links with Russia. However, his proximity to the President and power within the Trump administration will definitely keep this investigation in the news cycles for the foreseeable future.
