Sergey Kislyak’s account of the meeting was captured by U.S. intelligence.

Jared Kushner and Russia’s ambassador to Washington discussed the possibility of setting up a secret and secure communications channel between Trump’s transition team and the Kremlin, using Russian diplomatic facilities in an apparent move to shield their pre-inauguration discussions from monitoring, according to U.S. officials briefed on intelligence reports.

Ambassador Sergey Kislyak reported to his superiors in Moscow that Kushner, son-in-law and confidant to then-President-elect Trump, made the proposal during a meeting on Dec. 1 or 2 at Trump Tower, according to intercepts of Russian communications that were reviewed by U.S. officials. Kislyak said Kushner suggested using Russian diplomatic facilities in the United States for the communications.

The meeting also was attended by Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser.

This article is a bit old, but considering the constant MAGA whines of “No Russian collusion!!!” it is important to remember who was actually running our government for 4 years.

  • spaghettiwesternOP
    1103·
    1 year ago

    It wasn’t that long ago that this kind of conspiracy would land someone in prison for the rest of their life.

    In 1994 Aldrich Ames, a CIA case officer was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for being a Russian agent. He certainly had far, far less access to classified information than Trump, Kushner and Flynn.

      • Diplomjodler@feddit.de
        18·
        1 year ago

        Does it matter? They were trying to communicate with a hostile power and hide those communications from their own government. If that’s not treason, i don’t know what is.

      • hillbicks@feddit.de
        13·
        1 year ago

        In the case of Ames, yes there was.

        From Wikipedia

        The CIA also realized that, despite Ames’ annual salary being $60,000, he could afford:

        A $540,000 house in Arlington, Virginia, paid for in cash

        A $50,000 Jaguar luxury car

        Home remodeling and redecoration costs of $99,000

        Monthly phone bills exceeding $6,000, mostly calls by Ames’ wife to her family in Colombia

        Premium credit cards, on which the minimum monthly payment exceeded his monthly salary

        In March 1993, the CIA and FBI began an intensive investigation of Ames that included electronic surveillance, combing through his trash and the installation of a monitor in his car to track his movements. From November 1993 until his arrest, Ames was kept under virtually constant physical surveillance. When, in early 1994, he was scheduled to attend a conference in Moscow, the FBI believed it could wait no longer, and he and his wife were arrested on February 21

      • spaghettiwesternOP
        91·
        1 year ago

        There’s a ridiculous amount proof of a Trump conspiracy with Russia that’s already public, but when the traitors are actually running the CIA, FBI, and Justice Department laws don’t get enforced. Even after the administration changes the same organizations do not want to investigate because many of their employees would be found actively and passively complicit in one or more conspiracy.

        A tiny portion of the unredacted findings from the Senate Intelligence Report on Russian Interference in the 2016 Election:

        The Committee’s bipartisan Report unambiguously shows that members of the Trump Campaign cooperated with Russian efforts to get Trump elected. It recounts efforts by Trump and his team to obtain dirt on their opponent from operatives acting on behalf of the Russian government. It reveals the extraordinary lengths by which Trump and his associates actively_sought to enable the Russian interference operation by amplifying its electoral impact and rewarding its perpetrators - even after being warned of its Russian origins. And it presents, for the first time, concerning evidence that the head of the Trump Campaign was directly connected to the Russian meddling through his communications with an individual found to be a Russian intelligence officer.

        Additionally, the Committee’s bipartisan Report shows that, at the June 9, 2016 meeting in Trump Tower, senior members of the Campaign sought, explicitly, to receive derogatory information for electoral benefit from a Russian lawyer known to have ties to the Russian government, with the understanding that the information was part of “Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.” Prior to and during that meeting, members of the Trump Campaign’s leadership clearly stated their desire to receive the promised derogatory Russian information, and ultimately they also clearly expressed their displeasure that the Russian information that was presented was not sufficiently damaging.

        The Committee’s bipartisan Report shows that, during the campaign, Donald Trump and the Trump Organization were pursuing a business deal in Russia. This is a topic about which the Campaign and its associates misled the public and Congress. The Committee’s Report shows that Trump’s outreach to the Kremlin began early and that during the Republican’ ’ primary campaign, around the time that Trump authorized pursuit of the Russia deal, Trump asked for an in-person meeting with Putin.

        There may be some who attempt to minimize the seriousness of Trump’s actions, or the actions of his associates, by arguing that these individuals were motivated simply by self- interest or self-promotion. This argument overlooks that when self-interest is intertwined with the goals of a malign Russian influence operation, and when self-interest promotes the known Russian effort while also being promote~ by that same Russian effort, then self-interest and Russia’s interest become one and the same. Moreover, this argument misunderstands the deep counterintelligence vulnerability that is created when those who seek positions of great power, or proximity to that power, are willing to trade away national security for personal gain.

        Candidate Trump’s pursuit of private business in Russia during the campaign, and his Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort’s deep financial ties to a Kremlin-aligned Russian.oligarch during the campaign, are not the only sources of leverage to which Trump and his Campaign were vulnerable. The Committee’s bipartisan Report shows that dt1ring the campaign Trump maintained personal correspondence with a Russian oligarch and his adult son on topics including the upcoming U.S. election. The Moscow-based oligarch and his son, who were involved in offering the Trump Campaign derogatory information related to the election and who gave Trump a sizable gift during the Campaign, maintain significant and concerning connections 'not only to Kremlin leadership but also to Russian organized crime. Trump had previously done business with the oligarch in Moscow.

        This is ONLY about the 2016 conspiracy. There’s copious public information about continuing Russian contact, including known releases of highly classified information to Russia by Trump. Suggesting that there isn’t public information is ill-informed at best.