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Trump’s son-in-law gets sucked into the Russia scandal; famine threatens 20 million in four countries; civilian casualties on the rise in Mosul.
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- President Trump’s son-in-law and close adviser Jared Kushner is set to be questioned by the Senate Intelligence Committee over meetings he attended and arranged with Russian officials. [New York Times / Jo Becker, Matthew Rosenberg, Maggie Haberman]
- The New York Times’s story identified three meetings of particular interest, which all occurred during the transition period in December: one between Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, and Kushner; another meeting between Kislyak and a deputy Kushner sent in his place; and a third meeting, arranged at Kislyak’s request, between Kushner and the chief of the Russian development bank Vnesheconombank, against which the US government has imposed sanctions.
- Kushner has agreed to be questioned, but the White House maintains that he did nothing wrong and was simply acting within his role as a point person on the transition team for foreign governments.
- Kushner is the latest Trump aide to be called before Congress to discuss ties to Russia. The House Intelligence Committee is also investigating any connections between Trump’s campaign and Russian attempts to influence the US election, and so far Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort, his former adviser Carter Page, and another close adviser, Roger Stone, have all agreed to appear before the committee. [Wall Street Journal / Byron Tau, Carol E. Lee, Shane Harris]
- The House committee also hopes to bring in Flynn — who stepped down as national security adviser after lying to the vice president about his own conversations with Kislyak — to testify. [CNN / Tom LoBianco]
- But it’s not clear how effective the House Intel Committee will be, given that its chair, Devin Nunes, is a Russia-sympathetic Trump ally who last week falsely claimed to have proof that the government wiretapped Trump tower — and has since revealed he did that after visiting the White House to “meet a source.” [Vox / Yochi Dreazen]
- Meanwhile, in conveniently deflective timing, over the weekend Kushner was named to a cushy job in a new department in the executive branch: head of the White House Office of American Innovation. It’s being described of as “SWAT team” of business executives turned consultants who will make the government “run like a great American company,” according to Kushner. [Washington Post / Ashley Parker, Philip Rucker]
- Sound familiar? In 2008, Obama proposed an initiative literally described as a “SWAT team” that would be overseen by a chief performance officer, and the unit’s purpose would be to cut down inefficiency and ensure performance and progress goals were be met within the government. [Washington Post / Aaron Blake]
- But don’t worry: Kushner’s new job will not prevent him from continuing to weigh in, completely unqualified, on matters of foreign policy, and because the position is unpaid, apparently it totally does not count as nepotism. [Wall Street Journal / Michael C. Bender]
- One theory on Kushner’s continually expanding role in the White House: Kushner’s sustained loyalty to Trump, and the similarities between the two men, have set up Kushner as “the perfect Trumpnik.” [Vox / Matt Yglesias]