Kushner Faces New Scrutiny over Russian Lawyer Meeting
WHITFIELD: New questions about a June, 2016, meeting between the Trump campaign team and several people tied to Russia. Eight people were at that Trump Tower meeting between a Russian lawyer, Donald Trump Jr, the president's son-in-law and top adviser, Jared Kushner, and then-campaign chair, Paul Manafort. One of the eight, a Russian-American lobbyist, who was a former Soviet soldier. CNN senior international correspondent, Ivan Watson, joining us from Moscow. Ivan, what is the Russian government saying about this former Soviet military member's connection to the Kremlin?</s>IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A spokesman for the Kremlin said they do not know who this man is, Rinat Akhmetshin. We have been doing research about him. He was born in the Soviet Union. Yes, he served in the Soviet army, as was necessary of all men in the Soviet Union. It was a conscript army in those days. He moved to the U.S. decades ago and became a naturalized American citizen in 2009. According to a New York district court document from 2012, he introduced himself in response to a subpoena as somebody whose business is strategic communications. He said, quote, "Some of my clients are national governments or high-ranking officials in those governments." I have spoken with one person from Kazakhstan, a human rights activist, who said saw Akhmetshin mentioned at human rights conferences in the late 1990s and that he was an opponent of the government of Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic at that time. More recently, he was the target of a letter from chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley, to the Department of Homeland Security, who wrote, quote, "I write to obtain information regarding Mr. Rinat Akhmetshin, a Russian immigrant to the U.S., who has been accused of acting as an unregistered agent for Russian interests and, apparently, has ties to Russian intelligence." Now, in other interviews, Akhmetshin has denied he worked for the Russian government or Russian intelligence. We do know he worked with the Russian lawyer, Natalia Vesalnatskya, who was at that June, 2016, meeting with Donald Trump Jr. Both of them were lobbying against the Magnitsky Act, U.S. legislation that sanctioned Russian individuals implicated in human rights abuses and corruption -- Fredricka?</s>WHITFIELD: Ivan Watson, thanks so much, from Moscow. Lawmakers in the U.S., on both sides of the aisles, are alarmed by recent revelations of a meeting between the Trump team and a Russian lawyer during the 2016 presidential campaign. Jared Kushner was the only person in that meeting who now holds a government title. He didn't disclose that contact on his original security clearance application. Now, Democrats are calling for the president's son-in- law and top adviser to have his security clearance revoked. Here now is CNN's Tom Foreman.</s>TOM FOREMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Inauguration week and the president's son-in-law files his first papers for a security clearance on January 18th. Jared Kushner reveals no contact with any foreigners during the campaign or transition. The next day, he says he hit that send button too soon and will amend that. In May, according to his lawyer, the papers are updated to show Kushner had "over 100 calls or meeting with representatives of more than 20 countries, most during the transition." By mid-June, as they prepare for congressional testimony, Kushner's lawyers say they discovered the e-mail from Donald Trump Jr setting up that meeting last year with Russian lawyer, Natalia Vesalnatskya, allegedly to get Russian government dirt on Hillary Clinton. Kushner attended that meeting which Donald Trump Jr now says was a bust.</s>DONALD TRUMP JR, SON OF PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It was apparent that wasn't what the meeting was actually about.</s>FOREMAN: Nonetheless, on June 21st, Kushner amended his security papers against to reflect his attendance at this meeting. And according to a source close to Kushner, he said he was going to tell President Trump. We don't know if he did.</s>TRUMP: Nothing happened from the meeting. Zero happened from the meeting.</s>FOREMAN: But as the president called the Russian lawyer meeting meaningless, he is also saying he learned of it not in June but only days ago.</s>JAY SEKULOW, PERSONAL ATTORNEY TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: He was not aware of the meeting, did not attend the meeting, and was only informed about the e-mails very recently by his counsel.</s>FOREMAN: Kushner's late admission of that meeting has urged sharpe interest in all his foreign contacts not initially disclosed because, as an advisor, all meetings with foreigners must be listed.</s>SEN. MARK WARNER, (D), VIRGINIA: It seems strange to me that those meetings were conveniently forgotten, at least by Mr. Kushner.</s>SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST, HANNITY: How long was the meeting?</s>DONALD TRUMP JR: About 20 minutes or so.</s>HANNITY: About 20 minutes. And Jared left after about five or 10?</s>DONALD TURMP JR: Yes.</s>FOREMAN: The Russian lawyer says neither Kushner, nor then-Trump campaign manager, Paul Manafort, played much of a role.</s>NATALIA VESALNATSKYA, RUSSIAN ATTORNEY (through translation): I don't know. He was the only one that I was speaking to.</s>FOREMAN: But amid all the late revelations, Democrats are fuming that Kushner was given security clearance at all.</s>REP. ADAM SCHIFF, (D), CALIFORNIA: Anybody else applying for clearance with these facts would be denied that clearance.</s>FOREMAN (on camera): Of the three representatives of Donald Trump we now know were in the room with that Russian lawyer, only Jared Kushner is now an official adviser to the president. That has put him squarely in the crosshairs of investigators trying to figure out if anyone did anything illegal. Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.</s>WHITFIELD: Four young men murdered. One man has confessed, telling police exactly how the crimes were committed. What we don't know is why. Story is next in the NEWSROOM.