Reported Talks by Jared Kushner With Russia Would Be ‘Good Thing,’ Trump Official Says -
By MATT FLEGENHEIMER and PETER BAKERMAY 28, 2017
WASHINGTON — John F. Kelly, President Trump’s homeland security secretary, on Sunday defended a reported effort by Jared Kushner, the president’s embattled son-in-law
and key adviser, to establish a secret channel with Russia during the transition, calling it “a good thing.”
“Any information flow into the government and then considered by the government, I won’t criticize that,” Mr. Kelly said
in an interview on ABC’s “This Week.” “All of these lines of communication are a positive thing, in my opinion.”
Mr. Kelly’s remarks came amid news that Mr. Kushner was a focus of investigations into possible collusion between Russia
and Mr. Trump’s associates during the campaign and transition, a development that has consumed an already-beleaguered White House.
If the reports that Mr. Kushner had discussed a secret channel were true, Mr. Schiff said, “it’s obviously very concerning.”
“You have to ask,” he said on ABC’s “This Week,” “well, who are they hiding the conversations from?”
James R. Clapper Jr., who was until January the director of national intelligence, said
that although he had not seen “any smoking-gun-certitude evidence of collusion” by the time of his departure, his antenna was up.
