US President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner to testify in Russia probe next week

World Today

Jared KushnerIn this June 22, 2017, file photo, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner listens during the “American Leadership in Emerging Technology” event with President Donald Trump in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

As Washington gears up for more hearings next week, U.S. President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Saturday over the special counsel’s Russia probe.

Trump wrote, “While all agree the U.S. President has the complete power to pardon, why think of that when only crime so far is LEAKS against us. FAKE NEWS.”

Trump’s son-in-law and top adviser, Jared Kushner, is set to take center stage on Capitol Hill on Monday.

CGTN’s Roee Ruttenberg reports.
Follow Roee Ruttenberg on Twitter @RoeeRuttenberg

Jared Kushner’s audience will be behind closed doors when he testifies at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing. The following day he will testify before the House Intelligence Committee. Both will likely focus on a meeting Kushner attended with a Russian attorney and several other people.

The attorney had past ties to the Kremlin. Lawmakers are hoping to determine what was said during that meeting, what (if anything) was offered, what (if anything) was provided, and how (if at all) any of that may have affected or influenced the election that saw Donald Trump become President.

As of late Friday, Trump’s son, Don Jr., and Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort, who were also at the meeting, will not be testifying before the Senate panel on Wednesday. They were scheduled to so, but it seems they have instead agreed to hand over documents through their respective lawyers and interview privately with staff ahead of any public hearing.

Meanwhile, according to the Wall Street Journal, Kushner has revised his financial disclosures and included more than 70 assets that had been previously left off. These are documents that private citizens who transition to becoming federal officials are required to submit to the government ethics office.

One former head of that office told the publication that such omissions – more likely oversights – can be expected when the individual doing the disclosing has no previous government experience and has lots of wealth, lots of shifting assets, and lawyers handling much of their affairs.

Kushner previously had to revise other forms related to his security clearance, in which he revealed contacts with representatives from more than 20 foreign governments during the campaign and transition.

The lawyer for Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and herself a top adviser, says the couple is fully cooperating with all requirements. Critics, though, are likely to see Kushner’s latest financial revisions as further evidence that the Trump family has something to hide, specifically business ties that may prove conflicts of interest around the world.