New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner “deserves the scrutiny” he’s received during special counselor Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
“I’m telling you that he deserves the scrutiny, you know why?” Christie said on MSNBC Tuesday night. “Because he was involved in the transition and involved in meetings that call into question his role. OK, well then if he’s innocent of that, that will come out as Mueller examines all the facts and if he’s not, that will come out too.”
A spokesman for Kushner did not respond to CNN’s calls for comment.
As US Attorney in 2004, Christie prosecuted Kushner’s father, Charles Kushner, for tax evasion, witness tampering and illegal campaign contributions. Charles Kushner pleaded guilty and served 2 years in prison. And after ending his own presidential bid in 2016, Christie was one of the first major Republican figures to endorse Trump and served as the head of his transition team before being replaced by Vice President Mike Pence after the election.
During the transition last December, Kushner was the very senior member of the transition team who directed Michael Flynn – the then incoming National Security Adviser – to contact the Russian ambassador, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Democrats have also called on the White House to revoke security clearances granted to Kushner over reports of his use of personal email accounts and his multiple updates to his security clearance questionnaire, known as SF-86, for failing initially to include meeting with foreign officials.
During the summer, Kushner issued a public statement regarding his meetings with Russians, and said he has been fully transparent with investigators.
“All of my actions were proper and occured in the normal course of events of a very unique campaign,” he said. “I did not collude with Russia, nor do I know of anyone else in the campaign who did so. I had no improper contacts.”
