Jared Kushner, husband of Ivanka Trump and one of the closest advisers to his father-in-law US President Donald Trump, is reportedly a “person of interest” in the probe into possible ties between the Russian government and the Trump campaign, according to US media reports Saturday.
A reporter from New York magazine named Kushner as one of people with whom special investigators wanted to speak.
Another report from the Washington Post referred to a senior adviser to Trump, but did not name Kushner specifically.
Kushner and Ivanka are currently in Saudi Arabia, joining Trump on his first official overseas visit since taking office in January.
Kushner, a real estate mogul and owner of the online-publication The New York Observer, has known ties to Russia. Kushner met in December 2016 with Sergey Gorkov, head of Vnesheconombank (VEB), a Russian government-owned bank based in Moscow.
The White House previously stated that Kushner went into the meeting as an acting Trump adviser, not for personal business reasons. The meeting will likely play a role in the US federal government’s investigation into Trump’s suspected ties to Russia.
On Thursday, during a press conference with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, Trump reiterated that there was no collusion between his campaign and the Russians.
Calling the investigation “a witch hunt,” Trump said: “There is no collusion – certainly myself and my campaign – but I can always speak for myself and the Russians – zero.”
