Jared Kushner After Testimony: I Did Not Collude With Russia, nor Do I Know Anyone Else in the Campaign Who Did So

By streiff | 3:00 PM on July 24, 2017

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White House senior adviser Jared Kushner speaks to reporters outside the White House in Washington, Monday, July 24, 2017, after meeting behind closed doors with the Senate Intelligence Committee on the investigation into possible collusion between Russian officials and the Trump campaign. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, gave a statement after his appearance at a closed session of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

My colleague, Dan Spencer, posted on Kushner’s pre-interview testimony and the latest statement doesn’t depart from the key points in that earlier statement. This is probably the crux:

“Since the first questions were raised in March, I’ve been consistent in saying that I was eager to share any information that I have with the investigating bodies and I have done so today,” Kushner said. “The record and documents I’ve voluntarily provided will show all of my actions were proper and occurred in the normal course of events of a very unique campaign.

“Let me be very clear, I did not collude with Russia, nor do I know anyone else in the campaign who did so. I had no improper contacts. I have not relied on Russian funds for my businesses and I’ve been fully transparent in providing all requested information.”

He went on to say:

“Donald Trump had a better message and ran a stronger campaign and that’s why he won.”

The last statement is pretty much what Chuck Schumer said as he was unveiling the Democrats’ new economic scheme:

“When you lose to somebody who has 40 percent popularity, you don’t blame other things — Comey, Russia — you blame yourself,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in an interview previewing the new plan. “So what did we do wrong? People didn’t know what we stood for, just that we were against Trump. And still believe that.”

Democrat Ron Wyden was not impressed:

wyden-statement-on-kushner

Is any of this of significance? No.

This was political theater. To the extent that there was a winner, it was Kushner. He set out his view in his opening and closing statements and there is no visual or written record to contradict anything he said. If you actually believe the Russian collusion story you’ll still call Kushner a liar. If you don’t care about the story, which is the default opinion of a super-majority of Americans, then Kushner has done his bit and it is time to move onto the next phase of this nonsense.