President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, a senior White House adviser, is under scrutiny by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the Russia probe, The Washington Post and NBC News reported on Thursday.
Kushner is being investigated because of his meetings in December and other possible interactions with the Russian ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak, and a banker from Moscow, Sergey Gorkov, The Post reported, citing people familiar with the investigation.
Kushner is the only current White House official known to be considered a key person in the probe, the newspaper reported. It further said that even though meetings of this kind are “routine [...] the meetings and phone calls with the Russians were not made public at the time.”
While applying for top-security clearance, Kushner omitted the mention of these meetings in April, reported The New York Times. His attorney later called them errors and told the FBI soon after that the forms would be amended.
The FBI, several congressional committees, and a special counsel appointed by the Justice Department are looking into allegations of meddling by Russia in the 2016 US election and possible ties between Trump's presidential campaign and Russian officials seeking to influence the election.
The controversy has engulfed Trump's administration since he fired FBI Director James Comey on 10 May. Moscow has repeatedly denied the allegations and Trump denies any collusion with Russia.
The interest in Kushner does not mean investigators suspect him of a crime or intend to charge him, the officials told NBC News.
It is not known whether Kushner has received any requests from the FBI for records, NBC News said.
One of Kushner's attorneys, Jamie Gorelick, said in a statement her client would cooperate with the investigation.
Gorelick’s in a released statement said:
Mr Kushner previously volunteered to share with Congress what he knows about these meetings. He will do the same if he is contacted in connection with any other inquiry.
The FBI and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(With inputs from media agencies, The New York Times and The Washington Post.)
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