A protester on Monday tried to give White House adviser Jared Kushner a Russian flag in the U.S. Capitol, just after Kushner delivered nearly two and a half hours of testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on his meetings with Russian officials last year.
The protester asked Kushner to sign the flag, but he refused. Kushner also did not answer questions on his way out of the Hart Senate Office Building, where he met with committee staff and senators.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said he will likely have more questions for Kushner, suggesting that Kushner may have a return visit in his future.
“I have questions,” Manchin said. “We all have questions.”
Prior to talking with the committee, Kushner released his written statement to Congress that said he did “not collude” with Russia.
“I did not collude, nor know of anyone else in the campaign who colluded, with any foreign government,” Kushner wrote. “I had no improper contacts.”
The 11-page written statement from Kushner detailed four encounters with Russian officials, including a meeting with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, a meeting that Kushner described as exchanging pleasantries and lasting less than a minute.
Kushner also maintained that his contacts with Kislyak were normal for someone whose campaign position was to act as a liaison with foreign governments.
Monday’s talk with the committee took on heightened importance after Donald Trump Jr. released emails showing he, Kushner, and then-campaign manager Paul Manafort had agreed to meet with a Russian lawyer who was promising to deliver damaging research on Hillary Clinton that would have impacted the campaign in June of 2016. The emails by publicist Rob Goldstone that set up the meeting said that the information was, “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump[.]”
His written testimony detailed that meeting, but Kushner said he was barely aware of what the meeting was about, and said he quickly left.
“I arrived at the meeting a little late,” Kushner said. “When I got there, the person who has since been identified as a Russian attorney was talking about the issue of a ban on U.S. adoptions of Russian children. I had no idea why that topic was being raised and quickly determined that my time was not well-spent at this meeting.”
Prior to the meeting’s close, Manchin said transcripts of today’s meeting could be released.
“If it’s not classified, it should be,” Manchin told a group of reporters.
Kushner will testify to the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday.
Donald Trump Jr. and Manafort are expected to talk to the Senate Intelligence Committee later this week, but that discussion will not be public, and by all appearances, the pair will not be under oath.
