The Trump administration has insisted, repeatedly, that there’s nothing to the allegations that some members of his staff were speaking to the Russian government. The administration would prefer we all focus on who’s leaking all this sensitive material, which is awkward since the short answer is “the Trump administration.” But despite that insistence, news has just broken that the probe has officially entered the White House with a “person of interest.”
The Washington Post is reporting that a senior White House advisor is a “person of interest” in the Department of Justice’s Russia probe, although just who that person is remains an open question. That marks the first time that the probe has officially fingered a member of the administration. To this point, it’s mostly focused, at least in the press, on former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, fired after less than a month on the job, former members of the Trump campaign such as Paul Manafort, and outside advisers such as Roger Stone (although appointees such as Jeff Sessions are facing increasing scrutiny, not helped by their boss).
And it’s likely not to be the last bump in the road for the administration. The Post report includes discussion of the investigation, which now includes potential financial crimes, will be taking steps that will be more public and visible, including issuing subpoenas and collecting documents, and that this makes it far more likely those coming into court will go public. In other words, we’re likely to find out just who this advisor is in fairly short order, and that he, or she, might not be the last White House employee to be of interest.
New York magazine reporter Yashar Ali claims to have spoken to four sources who say that the advisor in question is Jared Kushner. We’ll keep watching this story and bring further updates if they arrive.
It's jared Kushner have confirmed this with four people. I'm not speculating
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) May 19, 2017
(via The Washington Post)