Earlier today, President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser at the White House claimed
the Russia investigation has been more damaging to the United States than Putin’s meddling
in the 2016 election.
Jared Kushner speaking publicly for the first time since the Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s
redacted final report came out last week.
Jared Kushner says, he thought the whole thing was “kind of nonsense.”
That’s a quote.
Here’s what he said today during the TIME 100 Summit.
Kushner: You look at, you know, what Russia did, you know, buying some Facebook ads to
try to sew dissent and do it, and it’s a terrible thing, but I think the investigations
and all of the speculation that’s happened for the last two years has had a much harsher
impact on our democracy than a couple Facebook ads.
Jared Kushner’s diminishment of Russian interference is both disingenuous and deceptive.
The attack on our democracy involved much more than the purchase of a few Facebook ads.
From the Mueller report we now know, the Russians made contact with multiple members of the
Trump campaign, including Jared Kushner, attempting to change American policies and promote Russian
objectives.
They repeatedly received Trump campaign polling data from a member of the Trump team.
They discussed possible business deals, policy goals, and getting dirt on Hillary Clinton,
with the now-president’s son and others.
They conducted cyber espionage, stealing e-mails and distributing them to help candidate Trump
and hurt Trump’s opponent.
They sent Russian operatives to America, in person, to learn the landscape and generally
sew division in America.
They broke into state and local election computers.
They invaded our nation in both the cyber and physical worlds.
The United States indicted 26 Russian nationals and 3 Russian companies and the Mueller report
makes crystal clear, and all US intelligence agencies concur, the Russians are STILL trying
to damage our nation, interfere in our affairs, and influence our election.
Special counsel prosecutors interviewed Jared Kushner for his contacts with Russians, including
the infamous Trump Tower meeting in 2016 with Donald Trump Jr. and the president’s former
campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
Mueller wrote that while there is evidence of communications between the Trump campaign
and Moscow, there was no coordination.
But on the matter of Russian interference, the Facebook ads Jared Kushner referenced
were but a sliver of Russia’s attack on America.
This is Fox News’ Shep Smith speaking out against Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner
after he diminished the entirety of Russian meddling in the 2016 election, reducing it
to just a couple of Facebook ads.
But clearly, Russian interference wasn’t just a couple of Facebook ads, and the fact
that Kushner is still claiming that it was, even AFTER the report has been released outlining
a slew of attacks against our country, goes to show that this administration’s MO was
ALWAYS to lie, always to distract and obfuscate and pivot.
The fact that the talking point here by Kushner at the TIME 100 summit is not a breathless,
never-ending condemnation of Russian meddling in our election, the fact that Kushner and
company are talking about ANYTHING other than that goes to show just how little remorse
they feel about Russia’s interference in our election.
And it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why they don’t regret getting
Russia’s help, but for an administration that excels in lying, maybe at least lie about
this?
And I can say this until I’m blue in the face, but imagine if Hillary Clinton had France
meddle in our election on her behalf.
Don Jr. would be in a kayak with an AR-15 if he needed to be to get over there and declare
war himself.
So the fact that Kushner is likening a hostile foreign power’s attack on our sovereignty
as just a couple of Facebook ads is not only reductive, but woefully un-American.
And, to be clear, Mueller’s investigation did not damage America.
But what he uncovered DID.
So let’s not pretend that a probe resulting in 199 criminal counts, 37 people and entities
charged, 7 guilty pleas and 5 prison sentences was somehow a waste of time.
Especially since, of those indictments, 26 were Russian nationals and 3 were Russian
companies directly implicated in the attack.
I mean, the probe even netted money.
When all was said and done, the cost of the special counsel investigation was around $32
million, but it took in between $42 and $46 million, most of which came from Manafort’s
asset forfeiture.
In every which way, this investigation had a positive outcome.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Kushner would attack the probe, considering even HE
was implicated in it.
And while Mueller could prove that the Trump Tower meeting between Don Jr, Kushner and
Paul Manafort and a Russian lawyer amounted to criminal conspiracy, it was beyond clear
that the Russians were operating to help Donald Trump and that his campaign was receptive
to it.
By virtue of showing up, Kushner gave his tacit approval of their attack on their country,
so while I understand why he would want to pretend that none of this ever happened, pretending
doesn’t make it true.