The liberal media have been circling and acting as though they smell blood in the water since The Washington Post reported that close Trump adviser, Jared Kushner wanted to set up a back channel with the Russians so Trump could discuss Syria. This, on top of reports that investigators would like to simply talk with Kushner and ask him some questions. The prowling continued on CNN’s Inside Politics on Sunday, where they painted Kushner as “treasonous” before offhandedly noting that he was not a target roughly 50 minutes later.
“He's among several Trump loyalists whose repeated campaign Russia-election contacts alarmed U.S. intelligence officials,” declared host John King at the start of the segment. He then played a clip of former CIA Director John Brennan telling a Congressional committee:
Frequently, individuals who go along a treasonous path do not even realize they’re along that path until it gets to be a bit too late. And that’s why, again, my radar goes up early when I see certain things when I know what the Russians are trying to do and I don't know whether or not the targets of their efforts are as mindful of the Russian intentions as they need to be.
It’s ironic that they’re trusting the word of the same John Brennan whose agency was caught in “the unprecedented hacking of congressional staff computers,” according to a statement by Democratic Senator Mark Udall in 2014. According to a report from The Washington Post back then, “CIA employees improperly searched computers used by Senate investigators involved in a multi-year probe of the agency’s use of harsh interrogation measures on terrorism suspects.” Of which, Brennan lied to Congress and to the public about and wasn’t punished for.
But never the less, King bought into Brennan’s testimony about people in the Trump administration like Kushner. “Let begin with a question: Is this a little odd, but okay or is this the act of someone, as you just heard from the former CIA Director, someone on a treasonous path,” he asked his panel of journalists. He further coached them on the answer he was looking for by adding:
Kushner says this back channel needs to be hush-hush and The Washington Post says the Russian ambassador told his bosses in Moscow that Kushner proposed using Russian diplomatic facilities for these calls, presumably so that U.S. intelligence agencies would have a harder time eavesdropping.
King appears to be admitting that the media was just making presumptions about Kushner’s intent and actions.
After noting that the White House has yet to put forward an explanation, and their Sunday meetings to discuss it, CNN reporter Jeff Zeleny smeared Kushner, saying: “It's naive at best, it may be something more at worst, we don’t know the answer. Even though he was a private citizen, this is not a business deal.” And from there panel speculated about Kushner’s dealings and future for several minutes, before moving on to other topics.
It took them roughly 50 minutes since the notion that Kushner’s actions were “treasonous” and “un-American,” according to King, were floated to mention that he was not a target for investigators. “The reality here is: this is all settling into the West Wing, yes, he's not specifically the subject or the target of the investigation, but he is front and center in the middle of it now,” Zeleny said near the end of the show. If he’s not the target, how can he be “front and center?” The real reality here is: Kushner is only front and center for the media.
Zeleny came up with an explanation that the White House could possibly use. “The best defense explanation so far, “If he was back-channeling with the Russians, he wasn't colluding with them during the campaign,” he said. He quickly dismissed it as “not the best answer” for them. But he never explained why that was. Zeleny might have just realized that it punches a very big hole in their Trump/Russian election collusion narrative.
Transcript below:
CNN
Inside Politics
May 28, 2017
8:02:22 AM EasternJOHN KING: Now, we know so too, is the conduct of his son-in-law and top adviser, Jared Kushner. He's among several Trump loyalists whose repeated campaign Russia-election contacts alarmed U.S. intelligence officials.
[Cuts to Video]
JOHN BRENNAN: Frequently, individuals who go along a treasonous path do not even realize they’re along that path until it gets to be a bit too late. And that’s why, again, my radar goes up early when I see certain things when I know what the Russians are trying to do and I don't know whether or not the targets of their efforts are as mindful of the Russian intentions as they need to be.
…
KING: Let begin with a question: Is this a little odd, but okay or is this the act of someone, as you just heard from the former CIA Director, someone on a treasonous path? Jared Kushner and retired General Michael Flynn meet with Russia's ambassadors to the United States in December, seven weeks before Donald Trump would take his oath as president. Kushner at that meeting proposes a secret back channel between team Trump and the Kremlin, so the two can compare notes on Syria and other global hotspots.
Now, remember, Barack Obama is still President, tensions with the Kremlin are high, and the FBI investigation of Russian-election meddling is already public knowledge. Kushner says this back channel needs to be hush-hush and The Washington Post says the Russian ambassador told his bosses in Moscow that Kushner proposed using Russian diplomatic facilities for these calls, presumably so that U.S. intelligence agencies would have a harder time eavesdropping.
…
JEFF ZELENY: How they're trying to explain it is they're meeting at the White House this afternoon to try and figure this out. It's naive at best, it may be something more at worst, we don’t know the answer. Even though he was a private citizen, this is not a business deal. So this is why you have the veterans of Washington-- Not establishment people, but people who have been in this town sort of going, “why did they do that.” But there's also not been a full accounting of all the meetings that Jared and others had with the Russian officials. This could have been dealt with weeks and months ago, but it hasn't been, so now, they are sort of stuck with this, but the whole specter of Russia was hanging over the President.
His silence about it. He's afraid to talk about this investigation. It had European leaders wondering why is he being so silent about Russia. Is he going to stand up to Vladimir Putin here? So, I think that the, you know, Jared Kushner was always sort of the invincible one inside, because he’s loyal to the President. Now, these meetings have really implicated him. If he did anything or not, we don't know, but it's a huge problem.
…
8:52:09 AM Eastern
ZELENY: As we've been talking about the cascade of stories about Jared Kushner have drawn this Russia investigation within steps of the Oval Office, really for the first time. But overnight, we're learning one of the reasons he came home early, from this trip, was because he knew that Washington Post story was coming. He did not want to be at the President's side when this happened. The reality here is: this is all settling into the West Wing, yes, he's not specifically the subject or the target of the investigation, but he is front and center in the middle of it now.
And this sort of creates an opening, a power center shift once again, for Steve Bannon to have much more power and the aides privately will say that Jared Kushner is going to remain, keep his head down as he does, but this raises more questions about him. And they don’t know how to answer them. The best defense explanation so far, “If he was back channeling with the Russians, he wasn't colluding with them during the campaign.” But that is probably not, you know, the best answer they’d like to give.
