Senate Committee Questions Jared Kushner's Truthfulness Regarding Communication with WikiLeaks
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: -- e-mails about an invitation to contact Russia through a, quote, "backdoor overture." Joining me now for more on this is CNN crime and justice reporter Shimon Prokupecz. So Shimon, what more can you tell us about these e- mails trying to set up this backdoor meeting, et cetera?</s>SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Fred, so this all came to light a couple months ago, but really came back into the spotlight this week after the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Jared Kushner's lawyer requesting information on this e-mail. It's an e-mail that they already have in their possession and it's titled, we're told, "Russian backdoor overture and dinner invite." And just to explain what this email was about, it was a Russian bank official believed to be acting on behalf of the Russian government. Aleksander Torshin. He reached out to a member of a Christian organization, a man by the name of Rick Clay, there in the middle of your screen, saying that Torshin wanted to meet with then candidate Trump while Trump was in Kentucky in May of 2016. He asked also if Clay could perhaps set up a dinner, have Trump attend a dinner for military members. And also perhaps Clay could set all this up. He then, we're told, Clay, forwarded the e-mail to a Trump campaign official, Rick Dearborn. And it was also suggested, we're told in the e-mail from Clay to members of the Trump campaign that Torshin could set up a meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, the Russian president. That e-mail has kind of created some controversy. This entire e-mail chain was then forwarded to Jared Kushner who turned down the offer, ultimately wrote that we should pass on this. A lot of people come claiming to carry messages, few we are able to verify, and for now Kushner said I think we decline such meetings.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, Shimon Prokupecz, thank you so much. So let's talk more about these developments with my panel. Joining me right now CNN political analyst Nathan Gonzales, also with me Lynn Sweet, the Washington Bureau Chief for "The Chicago Sun-Times." Good to see you both. Lynn, you first. So how much trouble potentially is Jared Kushner in based on these developments?</s>LYNN SWEET, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "CHICAGO SUN-TIMES": I think the trouble remains to be seen because I think right now what the Senate is trying to do is show Abbe Lowell, Kushner's attorney who is a veteran of these Congressional investigations, and he has represented Democrats, too, who have been in trouble, is that they are going to find out things even if Kushner doesn't want to volunteer them. I think all this does at this stage is make him aware that he needs to be forthcoming because one way or the other this timeline and the story is going to come out. And maybe -- I think the place where the investigation right now is, that maybe Mr. Kushner, why don't you offer up information, tell the story, and fill in the blanks rather than make us go through all of this matching e-mails, which is what they do. That's how they find out these things. They have the ability to go everywhere, Fredricka.</s>WHITFIELD: And of course, Nathan, Kushner's defense by way of his attorney is, you know, you asked the questions, and we're going to answer them accordingly. And if it doesn't go any further, nor will their client, Kushner.</s>NATHAN GONZALES, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think this is significant because as the investigation goes along, it starts to get a little bit closer to the president himself. I think it's easier for the White House to dismiss Papadopoulos or Carter Page or these other names, but once you're talking about Donald Trump Jr. or Jared Kushner, and Jared Kushner is something who is currently advising the White House, the more he gets involved in this and does that impede what he's advising in his roles right now, then it starts to get a little more complicated I think for the administration.</s>WHITFIELD: And then, Lynn, also very close, Hope Hicks, the White House communications director. She's been with Trump even before he was a candidate. So that relationship may be filled with a lot of interesting information that Rob Mueller may want to know. Apparently Hicks is preparing to sit down with Mueller's team. What kind of information would they want out of her?</s>SWEET: What they want is that she has been the ubiquitous Hope Hicks, the White House communications director. Fredricka, she's been at everything. She should know almost everything, or be able to provide it, or, if you look at her e-mails or what she was clued in on, she is vital. And I'm not saying she did anything wrong. She's valuable just to tell the story.</s>WHITFIELD: An eyewitness.</s>SWEET: Yes.</s>WHITFIELD: The fly on the wall, so to speak.</s>SWEET: Absolutely. And she might not have known where things were leading to or she might not have known a backstory, but she is seen as so important because she was there.</s>WHITFIELD: And also, Nathan, Jeff Sessions, he's been scrutinized for how he has answered questions, how he hasn't. And it's a very serious matter, but he actually made light of it in a speech yesterday in Washington that was sponsored by the Federalist Society which is a group of conservatives and libertarians, a group of attorneys, and this is how he was kind of joking about the whole Russia thing in that forum. Listen.</s>JEFF SESSIONS, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I just was thinking, I want to ask you, is Ambassador Kislyak in the room?</s>SESSIONS: Before I get started here. Any Russians?</s>SESSIONS: All right. Anybody been to Russia? Got a cousin in Russia?</s>WHITFIELD: All right, so Nathan, a lot of people in the room were laughing, but is this a laughing matter for Mueller and his team and even members of Congress who have not been able -- who have expressed being frustrated they don't get the right story or a consistent story out of Jeff Sessions?</s>GONZALES: The attorney general, his -- at the hearing earlier this week I thought it was remarkable where every Republican was asking about everything except for Russia, and the Democrats were bringing it back to Russia. And the attorney general, he commented about how it was so chaotic in the campaign and almost using that as an excuse for what he did and didn't remember.</s>WHITFIELD: Didn't recall.</s>GONZALES: But I think ultimately you're right, Fredricka, that the end result of this investigation will prove how much of a laughing matter this actually is and whether people have the same reaction to those jokes once people are either found to be guilty or not guilty. That will be the ultimate deciding factor.</s>WHITFIELD: And Lynn, I mean, he's the attorney general. You know, he's the top law enforcer, and he too is kind of making lite, poking fun at a very serious judicial process.</s>SWEET: In Washington there is a tradition when you go to some of these big dinners is using self-deprecating humor and taking a few jabs at yourself. Just think if somebody else had said that joke, it might have come off really bad or disturbing. So I think this actually humanized the attorney general and showed that a sense humor is never bad. And I think the joke was pretty good given the circumstances. If he wants to folk fun at himself for talking to Russians, I don't see any harm in this. I think everybody knows it's serious, so if he had a moment of levity at his own expense, you know, why not?</s>WHITFIELD: Sometimes people see a little charm in being self- deprecating, if that's what that was. All right, Lynn Sweet, thank you so much, Nathan Gonzales, good to see you both. Up next, as an eighth now accuser comes forward against Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, the president of the United States staying relatively quite yet on that matter. Details on the White House's attempt to change the conversation.