Amid reports that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was probing meetings that Jared Kushner, son-in-law of United States President Donald Trump, had in December with Russian officials, attorney Jamie Gorelick issued a statement on Thursday saying that Mr. Kushner was willing to cooperate with federal investigators looking into ties between Moscow and the Trump campaign.
“Mr. Kushner previously volunteered to share with Congress what he knows about these meetings. He will do the same if he is contacted in connection with any other inquiry,” the statement said.
“Turn over more Comey papers”
Chairman of the House oversight committee Jason Chaffetz asked the FBI to turn over more documents about former Director James Comey’s interactions with the White House and the Justice Department, including materials dating to September 2013, when acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe was sworn in as FBI director under President Barack Obama.
The FBI and the oversight committee, as well as several other congressional panels, are looking into Russian ‘meddling’ in the 2016 presidential election and possible connections between Russia and the Trump campaign. Mr. Trump fired Mr. Comey on May 9 amid questions about the FBI’s investigation, which is now being overseen by special counsel Robert Mueller, a former FBI director.
NBC News and The Washington Post first reported that the FBI’s ongoing investigation includes a look at Mr. Kushner, which would place the probe inside the White House.
Kushner-Kislyak meetings
Mr. Kushner, a key White House adviser, had meetings late last year with Russia’s Ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak, and Russian banker Sergey Gorkov.
The Post story cited anonymous “people familiar with the investigation,” who have said the FBI investigation does not mean that Mr. Kushner is suspected of a crime.
Earlier on Thursday, Mr. Chaffetz, in a letter to Mr. McCabe, said he was seeking to review Mr. Comey’s memos and other written materials so he could “better understand” Mr. Comey’s communications with the White House and the Attorney General’s office.
Mr. Chaffetz previously requested Mr. Comey’s recent memos about his private contacts with Mr. Trump. But the FBI told him on Thursday it could not yet turn them over because of Mr. Mueller’s probe.
‘Public have a right’
Mr. Chaffetz, who said last week that he has his “subpoena pen” ready to force Mr. Comey or the FBI to turn over the documents, told Mr. McCabe that “Congress and the American public have a right and a duty to examine this issue independently of the special counsel’s investigation.”
Mr. Chaffetz’s letter comes a month before he is scheduled to leave office after abruptly announcing his resignation earlier this year. He canceled a hearing scheduled on Wednesday after Mr. Comey declined to testify.
Assistant FBI Director Gregory Brower told Mr. Chaffetz on Thursday that the bureau was evaluating his request and would update him as soon as possible.
Some Republican members of Congress have pressured Mr. Chaffetz to step down from the Comey probe, saying it should be led by someone who will remain in Congress.
Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., is considered the frontrunner to replace Mr. Chaffetz as oversight chair. He led a special House panel that spent more than two years investigating the deadly 2012 attacks on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.
