Washington, Jul 24 (EFE).- Jared Kushner, the senior adviser and son-in-law of President Donald Trump, insisted on Monday that he was not negligent in his contacts with Russia last year and said that suggesting that his father-in-law won the election thanks to Moscow is to “ridicule” those who voted for him.
“Donald Trump had a better message and ran a smarter campaign (than Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton) and that is why he won. Suggesting otherwise ridicules those who voted for him,” said Kushner in a statement to reporters at the White House.
Trump’s son-in-law delivered his remarks after appearing in closed-door testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, where he downplayed the significance of the contacts he had during the campaign and the transition period with people having Kremlin ties.
He also repeated to the media the most important phrases from his testimony before the Senate, a preliminary statement for which he publicly released early Monday morning.
“I did not collude, nor know of anyone else in the campaign who colluded, with any foreign government,” Kushner said in the statement.
“I had no improper contacts. I have not relied on Russian funds to finance my business activities in the private sector. I have tried to be fully transparent with regard to the filing of my SF-86 form, above and beyond what is required. Hopefully, this puts these matters to rest,” he said.
The 36-year-old husband of Ivanka Trump said he had worked for Trump’s campaign because he believed in his father-in-law, adding that it had been an honor to work for the president and the American people.
“I did not collude, nor know of anyone else in the campaign who colluded, with any foreign government,” Kushner had said in his written statement issued hours before testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee about his contacts with Russia during the 2016 electoral campaign.
Kushner said he had no inappropriate contacts with anyone who had been or was at that time a representative of the Russian government.
In his written testimony, Kushner mentions a meeting unknown up to now with the Russian ambassador to Washington, Sergey Kislyak, at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington.
According to Kushner, he met with Kislyak and three other ambassadors a few months before Trump was designated the Republican candidate for president.
He said they “shook hands, exchanged brief pleasantries” and “each exchange lasted less than a minute.”
Recently Kushner has been at the center of the Russia controversy for a meeting with a Russian lawyer who was expected to provide damaging information against then-Democratic candidate and Trump rival Hillary Clinton.
But Kushner said the meeting “was a waste of our time.”