What’s not clear to me is which one initiated the contacts to begin with. Kislyak or Kushner. The earliest one we know about was last April. Was there a relationship between them before that? When did it start? Did Kislyak seek out Kushner; was he given Kushner’s name by Moscow? Did the relationship start owing to money laundering and then evolve into political election tampering? Is Ivanka involved? Also, surely Kislyak must have known his conversations were being monitored.
The drama is fantastic. I would bet money that the intel people are banking on a “Whew, it’s not Ivanka” reaction from Trump.
Once Trump kicks out Jared, then BOOM the news about Ivanka will come out.
I don’t know whether or not this comes into play, but it was noted somewhere that if the sanctions against Russia were lifted it would open up a pipeline for financial investment in people/businesses associated with Trump.
If true, that would no doubt include people like, say, the Kushner Companies. If there is any company on the planet that desperately needs an infusion of cash it is Jared’s ex-felon slumlord daddy’s company.
The $1.5 billion note on its disastrous purchase of 666 Fifth Avenue, which is hemorrhage cash to the tune of (see note) tens of millions/year, comes due in less than two years. With a 70% (and falling) occupancy rate that doesn’t cover expenses and, just recently, the loss of a $400 million cash infusion from Anbang Insurance Group, the company inextricably linked to the Chinese Communist Party’s elite, this has to be causing some sleepless nights and panty soiling in the home office.
Indeed, the Kushner Companies may want to go ahead and dump “Building the Future” and trademark “Oy Vey” as the new company slogan.
Note: I would look up this exact figure but I don’t want to use up my last free New York Times articles.
Absolutely, the drama is enticing. But I have to say, beyond the actual evidence and observations that have been released–members of the trump team were definitely involved with the Russians in relationships of mutual benefit and to the detriment of their political opponents-- I’m trying very hard not to speculate on matters beyond asking simple questions.
Random thought: What if the intercepted Kushner message from Kislyak to the Kremlin is fake? It wouldn’t be the first time the Russians have done such a thing.
And if it is fake, I wonder what Comrade Cockholster did to piss them off to this degree?
One speculation. Jared and Ivanka don’t strike me as a “team”. Hillary and Bill are a team. Dubya and Laura are a team. Barack and Michelle are a team. Jimmy and Rosalynn, definitely a team. My bet is that Ivanka has her own set of rapacious, acquisitive flim-flam projects and Jared has his.
“FBI investigators are examining whether Russians suggested to Kushner or other Trump aides that relaxing economic sanctions would allow Russian banks to offer financing to people with ties to Trump…”
Or, I might add, to Trump, himself.
But the single most important line of questioning investigators need to pursue:
Did Kushner ever use a private email server?
To discuss Benghazi?
While showing pictures of his grandchildren to Loretta Lynch on an airport tarmac?
Because, as we all know, these are the true threats to our Republic.
Trump is too dumb and arrogant to leak this stuff. Maybe the “deep state” is leaking, cause it really doesn’t want to see Trump getting blackmailed. This week at NATO may have gotten them to accelerate their efforts to turn him.
Ambassador Sergey Kislyak reported to his superiors in Moscow that Kushner, son-in-law and confidant to then-President-elect Trump, made the proposal …
Yes, I See that; about setting up a back channel, but wasn’t that after the election?. But that was not their first contact. The first contact - that we know about - was last April, 2016. What was discussed? Were there previous communications, say in 2015 when Trump declared? Who initiated the very first contact?
