Rep. Jamie Raskin is again calling for Jared Kushner’s security clearance to be suspended after a published report said President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser attempted to set up a secret back channel to communicate with Russian officials to avoid U.S. intelligence monitoring.
Raskin, whose district includes Bethesda, Chevy Chase and Silver Spring, said the report published last week by The Washington Post provides the latest evidence that an independent commission is needed to properly investigate the Trump administration’s ties to Russian leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“It’s rather astonishing that he was seeking a back channel to Putin’s team as a way to avoid U.S. intelligence interception,” Raskin told Bethesda Beat Tuesday. “Every day more conflicts are revealed. It seems like everybody in the inner circle of President Trump has close ties to the autocrats of Russia and Putin’s lieutenants.”
In April, Raskin was one five congressional Democrats to call for the suspension of Kushner’s security clearance after The New York Times reported that Kushner failed to note on his security clearance application that he had meetings with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States, and Sergey Gorkov, a prominent Russian banker.
The Post reported that Kushner requested the secret and secure communications line with the Kremlin during a meeting with Kislyak on Dec. 1 or 2 at Trump Tower in New York City.
Raskin said Kusnher’s situation “makes a mockery of the whole security clearance process.” He added that he’s not received a response to the letter he and his colleagues sent to the FBI and U.S. Office of Personnel Management asking that Kusner’s clearance be suspended.
“Can you imagine anybody outside the president’s immediate family and political advisers who would be able to keep security clearances after failing to disclose meetings with Putin’s confidantes?” Raskin asked.
On Sunday, Trump pushed back against the recent reports of collusion between his administration and Russian officials.
“It is my opinion that many of the leaks coming out of the White House are fabricated lies made up by the #FakeNews media,” Trump tweeted.
Raskin said calls by some Democrats to ease criticism on Kushner because he was seen as a moderate compared to Trump’s other advisers such as Steven Bannon have withered away.
“I had been hearing from the beginning that we should not pursue this lead or that lead because a certain person is the only island of reason in the administration,” Raskin said. “But we’re way beyond that now. We can’t pick and choose what evidence to follow. This is very serious business.”
He said the only way to properly investigate the Trump administration’s connections to Russian leaders is to convene an independent commission free from pressure from the Republican-controlled Congress.
“I think it would benefit the administration if the GOP would go along with an independent commission then we would have one body assigned to do a complete inventory of what happened,” Raskin said.
The administration has taken some steps to investigate the Russian connections. Earlier this month, The Justice Department appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel to lead the investigation into ties between Trump’s campaign and Russian leaders. Mueller was appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, who was previously leading the Russia investigation.
Raskin said Trump’s potential links to Russian leaders threaten American democracy.
“I hope that people don’t lose sight of the big picture here,” Raskin said. “Russia is an autocratic government that is actively destabilizing liberal democracies all over the earth. When tens of thousands of people march in the streets of Moscow against political corruption and authoritarianism, we should be standing with the people of Russia and not with tyrants.”
