Monday, July 8, 2019

Jared, Call the FBI

https://www.lawfareblog.com/jared-call-fbi?fbclid=IwAR0KaMqY7YXTLKKpZOX9qHU_yTmbaEgg7DOKfyp3sXb84z2NWuhninPBFO8
"In a remarkable interview with Axios on HBO, Jared Kushner, a senior adviser in the White House (and, coincidentally, the president's son-in-law), made a number of notable statements. Among them is his ambivalence regarding how he might handle a Russian approach (akin to the infamous Trump Tower meeting) if it were to happen again. Asked if he would call the FBI in similar circumstances, Kushner responded: "I don't know. It's hard to do hypotheticals, but the reality is is that we were not given anything that was salacious." Let's be clear—that's the wrong answer. I will limit this discussion to legal obligations; the moral failings are self-evident. Even if Kushner had no legal obligation to report the Russian contacts in 2016 when he was a private citizen, he no longer is. At the direction of the president, he now holds a top-secret (TS) clearance. And with that clearance comes a legal obligation to notify relevant authorities in the FBI and White House regarding suspicious foreign contacts."