The White House came clean Thursday about a December meeting that took place between Michael Flynn, Jared Kushner, and Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak in Trump Tower. The New York Times writes:
Michael T. Flynn, then Donald J. Trump’s incoming national security adviser, had a previously undisclosed meeting with the Russian ambassador in December to “establish a line of communication” between the new administration and the Russian government, the White House said on Thursday.
Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and now a senior adviser, also participated in the meeting at Trump Tower with Mr. Flynn and Sergey I. Kislyak, the Russian ambassador. But among Mr. Trump’s inner circle, it is Mr. Flynn who appears to have been the main interlocutor with the Russian envoy — the two were in contact during the campaign and the transition, Mr. Kislyak and current and former American officials have said.
But the extent and frequency of their contacts remains unclear...
Why did the White House finally own up to the meeting? For the same exact reason that AG Jeff Sessions recused himself from certain FBI investigations today: Because they were backed into a corner by investigative reporting.
The New Yorker reported this week that Mr. Kushner had met with Mr. Kislyak at Trump Tower in December. Hope Hicks, a White House spokeswoman, confirmed on Thursday that Mr. Flynn was also at the meeting in response to questions from a New York Times reporter.
Normally, contacts of this manner would be routine, but now that the FBI is investigating Russia's meddling in the election, all contacts between Russian officials and Trump associates are worthy of scrutiny. The December meeting took place right when the Obama administration was getting ready to announce new sanctions against Russia.
What is now becoming clear is that the incoming Trump administration was simultaneously striking a conciliatory pose toward Moscow in a series of meetings and phone calls involving Mr. Kislyak.
“They generally discussed the relationship and it made sense to establish a line of communication,” she said. “Jared has had meetings with many other foreign countries and representatives — as many as two dozen other foreign countries’ leaders and representatives.”
The Trump Tower meeting lasted 20 minutes, and Mr. Kushner has not met since with Mr. Kislyak, Ms. Hicks said.
You’d think the White House would be assembling all Russian contacts to make them public as quickly as possible, but that seems like a doubtful course of action for team Trump. Instead, they’re likely to just continue on with the drip, drip, drip that looks more and more like a cover up every day.
