The ‘Special Report’ All-Star panel weighs in
This is a misinformation campaign. Backchannels happen all the time.
In the absence of a connection this is nothing but a conspiracy theory.
Shep Smith slams Spicer for ducking questions about Kushner’s Russia call
Shep Smith blistered white House Press Secretary Sean Spicer Tuesday afternoon for refusing to put Kushner contacts with the Russia story to rest.
Speaking with Politico report Josh Gerstein, Smith pointed out the obvious: that Spicer still hasn’t denied reports that Kushner held inappropriate meetings with Russians.
“Remember how they found out about it in the first place,” Smith asked. “Yeah a leak, But how? Here’s how they found out — they were monitoring the Russians. While they are monitoring the Russians, as the story goes, all of a sudden there’s Jared Kushner. There they are discussing a backchannel that doesn’t involve the United States equipment but Russian equipment.”
“If that didn’t happen, if Jared Kushner wasn’t trying to hide things from the United States, then why would he do that?” he continued. “If he didn’t do that, please deny it so we can move on. That opportunity was given today in the White House press briefing.”
Why Would Jared Kushner Trust Russian Officials So Much?
A Washington Post report suggests the president’s son-in-law and adviser sought to give Moscow information he wanted to conceal from America’s own intelligence agencies.
.. If Kushner did in fact make the request, that alone would have put him in a compromising position, since Russian officials could have used it as leverage against him.
But what is also peculiar is the level of trust Kushner would have been placing in Russian officials in asking for such a communications channel. Foreign affairs is often complex, yet Kushner didn’t want the U.S. government’s help—or supervision.
.. “It shows a level of trust in Russian intelligence, and Russian diplomatic personnel beyond the level of trust afforded to American intelligence and American personnel.”
.. Communicating with Moscow using Russian facilities could have shielded Kushner’s correspondence from U.S. intelligence agencies, without denying their Russian counterparts the same access.
.. “The only reason you would operate that way is if you were hiding something from your own government. That’s it. That’s the only plausible explanation,”
.. Reports from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal have cited anonymous administration officials claiming that the purpose of the communications would have been to discuss the Syrian civil war. But that explanation raises similar issues: If that was the topic, why would Kushner want to cut out U.S. officials? And why couldn’t it wait until after the transition?