President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and former adviser KT McFarland were reportedly the senior Trump transition ‘officials’ who spoke to former US national security adviser Michael Flynn about his contacts with Russian officials, CNN reported Friday.
McFarland went on to serve in the Trump White House and has been nominated to be the US ambassador to Singapore. CNN also reported she met with investigators for special counsel Robert Mueller, who is looking at contacts between Russians and the Trump administration.
In the hours before the vote by the 15-member United Nations Security Council on 23 December, Flynn also phoned the UN missions of Uruguay and Malaysia, and Kushner spoke with Kim Darroch, the British ambassador to the United States, according to diplomats familiar with the conversations, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The lobbying took place before Republican President Donald Trump, who was known for his pro-Israel campaign rhetoric, took office on 20 January. It failed, with the Security Council adopting a resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlement building on land Palestinians want for an independent state. The vote was 14 in favour and one abstention by the United States.
According to court documents made public on Friday, a member of Trump's presidential transition team, later identified by sources as Trump's son-in-law Kushner, told Flynn on 22 December to contact officials from foreign governments, including Russia, to convince them to delay the vote or veto the resolution.
Flynn spoke with then-Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergei Kislyak that day, and again the following day, according to the court documents.
Also on 22 December, Trump discussed the resolution with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Egypt withdrew the text from a council vote the same day.
The 1799 Logan Act bars unauthorised private US citizens, which Trump, Flynn, and Kushner all were at the time, from negotiating with foreign governments. However, only two Americans have ever been indicted for allegedly violating it – in 1802 and 1852 – and neither was convicted.
Abbe Lowell, a lawyer for Kushner, did not respond to multiple requests for comment on Friday about Israel or other issues.
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