Kushner Is Said to Have Discussed a Secret Channel to Talk to Russia -
By MAGGIE HABERMAN, MARK MAZZETTI and MATT APUZZOMAY 26, 2017
WASHINGTON — Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law
and senior adviser, spoke in December with Russia’s ambassador to the United States about establishing a secret communications channel between the Trump transition team and Moscow to discuss strategy in Syria and other policy issues, according to three people with knowledge of the discussion.
It is unclear who first proposed the communications channel,
but the people familiar with the meeting said the idea was to have Mr. Flynn speak directly with a senior military official in Moscow to discuss Syria and other security issues.
The idea behind the secret communications channel, the three people said, was for Russian military
officials to brief Mr. Flynn about the Syrian war and to discuss ways to cooperate there.
In the days after the meeting with Mr. Kislyak, Mr. Kushner had a separate meeting with Sergey
N. Gorkov, a Russian banker with close ties to Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin.
The conversation between Mr. Kushner and the ambassador, Sergey I. Kislyak, took place during a meeting at Trump Tower
that Mr. Trump’s presidential transition team did not acknowledge at the time.
That article said it was unclear whether Mr. Kushner spoke to Mr. Kislyak on his own or with other advisers to Mr. Trump.
Also present at the meeting was Michael T. Flynn, the retired general who would become
Mr. Trump’s short-lived national security adviser, the three people said.