A Justice Department attorney said a review of redactions is why the agency failed to meet a judge’s deadline last week to release the FBI’s summary of an interview with White House adviser Jared Kusher during the Russia investigation.
Courtney Enlow, a DOJ lawyer, told CNN that “a member of the intelligence community” is conducting a review and the summary, a 302, will be “released with the appropriate redactions” on its completion.
The intelligence agency was not revealed.
As part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by CNN and BuzzFeed, Judge Reggie Walton ordered the fourth installment of notes from FBI interviews with witnesses from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation to be released by Friday. More than 150 pages were published in the latest batch, with redactions.
Kusher, who is married to President Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump, was scrutinized by the FBI for possible campaign finance crimes stemming from a 2016 Trump Tower meeting and contacts with Russian figures. Mueller’s team spoke with Kushner three times in 2017 and 2018. Kushner was never charged with a crime.
CNN and BuzzFeed asked the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to order the release of the Kushner 302 notes, which have been seen by congressional investigators, arguing that such a move “is important to help remedy what has become a troubling pattern in this litigation of the Government improperly withholding information that could be politically damaging to the President.”
This filing comes as House Democrats fault the Trump administration for its efforts to block witness testimony and documents during Ukraine-related impeachment proceedings. The House sent two articles of impeachment, one of which is obstruction of Congress, to the Senate, which is now conducting the trial.
A Justice Department representative did not immediately return a request for comment.
