The FBI’s criminal probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election is increasingly touching on the multiple roles of senior White House adviser, Jared Kushner, on both the Trump campaign and the Trump transition team.
Points of focus that pertain to Kushner include: the Trump campaign’s 2016 data analytics operation; his relationship with former national security adviser, Michael Flynn; and Kushner’s own contacts with Russians, according to US officials briefed on the probe, CNN reported.
There is no indication Kushner is currently a target of the probe and there are no allegations he committed any wrongdoing.
A source close to Kushner said Kushner was unaware of the FBI’s interest in him and has not been contacted.
NBC News and the Washington Post reported Friday on FBI’s interest in Kushner. Kushner’s attorney said her client is willing to talk to the FBI if asked.
“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,” said Jamie Gorelick, his attorney.
The FBI has collected data on computer bots, programs that perform repetitive functions like searches, allegedly linked to Russia that helped target and push negative information on Hillary Clinton and positive information on Donald Trump through Facebook and other social media, the officials say.
Kushner has described how, beginning last June, he began testing the use of data targeting to sell Trump merchandise. Eventually, according to a November Forbes magazine profile, the data operation helped the Trump campaign figure out where the candidate’s message was resonating in states like Michigan and Wisconsin, places where conventional political wisdom suggested they would be wasting time and money.
“I called somebody who works for one of the technology companies that I work with, and I had them give me a tutorial on how to use Facebook micro-targeting,” Kushner told Forbes.
The FBI focus on Flynn also touches on Kushner because he led the presidential transition’s foreign policy efforts.
