Mueller is looking into previously cloaked Kushner follies
We would have no doubt that celebrity hotelier Donald J. Trump would be “Tourette’s tweeting” about the Wall Street Journal being liberal fake news losers if it weren’t for the fact that he is still miffed about Jared Kushner having advised him to fire James Comey. What we would not give to be a fly on the wall in the White House residence tonight, because Special Counsel Robert Mueller is looking into Wonder Boy Son-in-Law’s pre-inauguration “foreign policy” follies:
Robert Mueller’s investigators are asking questions about Jared Kushner’s interactions with foreign leaders during the presidential transition, including his involvement in a dispute at the United Nations in December, in a sign of the expansive nature of the special counsel’s probe of Russia’s meddling in the election, according to people familiar with the matter.
The investigators have asked witnesses questions about the involvement of Mr. Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and a senior White House adviser, in a controversy over a U.N. resolution passed Dec. 23 that condemned Israel’s construction of settlements in disputed territories, these people said.
Israeli officials had asked the incoming Trump administration to intervene to help block it. Mr. Trump posted a Facebook message the day before the U.N. vote—after he had been elected but before he had assumed office—saying the resolution put the Israelis in a difficult position and should be vetoed. Mr. Trump also held a phone conversation with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, whose government had written a draft of the resolution. Egypt proceeded to call for the vote to be delayed, but the resolution passed the following day, with the Obama administration declining to block it.
Israeli officials said at the time that they began reaching out to senior leaders in the Trump transition team. Among those involved were Mr. Kushner and political strategist Stephen Bannon, according to people briefed on the exchanges.
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Investigators have also asked witnesses about Mr. Kushner’s role in arranging meetings or communication with foreign leaders during the transition, the people said. The special counsel’s mandate gives Mr. Mueller a broad directive to examine any matters arising from the Russia investigation.
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Another element of Mr. Mueller’s probe has focused on whether the president obstructed justice in the May firing of James Comey, the former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Mr. Mueller’s prosecutors have asked witnesses detailed questions about Mr. Kushner’s views of Mr. Comey and whether Mr. Kushner was in favor of firing him or had staked out a position, said the people familiar with the matter.
Someone should’ve told Jared that all of this incompetence, once it goes public, can be a career killer:
When Donald Trump appointed John Kelly as chief of staff in July, the four-star Marine general arrived with a mandate to bring order to a freewheeling West Wing. Gone are the days of staffers waltzing into the Oval Office to lobby the president on policy or supply him with gossip. Trump still tweets, of course, but for the most part Kelly’s cleanup has been successful, according to interviews with a half dozen Trump advisers, current and former West Wing officials, and Republicans close to the administration. The aide who has ceded the most influence in the Kelly era, these people said, is Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. “Kelly has clipped his wings,” one high-level Republican in frequent contact with the White House told me.
Kelly may act like a rude Neanderthal at times, but he seems to be the closest thing to an adult in Donald Trump’s inner circle.
