US Senate orders Trump to hand over campaign documents

There seems to be more trouble for controversial US President Donald Trump after the US Senate Intelligence Committee investigating Russian meddling in U.S. 2016 election, ordered Trump’s political organisation to hand over all documents going back to the campaign’s launch in June 2015.

According to a report by Washington Post, the Senate Intelligence Committee has ordered through a letter from its panel seeking all documents, emails and telephone records arrived at Trump’s campaign committee last week and was addressed to its treasurer.

About 24-hours ago, Jared Kushner, a senior White House adviser and son-in-law of Trump came under investigation by the FBI over his links with Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

Kushner is being investigated because of his meetings in December and other possible interactions with the Russian ambassador and a banker from Moscow, a report, citing people familiar with the investigation revealed.

A day before, former national security adviser Michael Flynn was compelled to turn over documents related to his contacts with Russian officials, the Senate Intelligence Committee has announced two new subpoenas against him.

The Senate Intelligence Committee also added that Flynn risks being held in contempt of Congress if he does not comply with the requests.

Flynn earlier this week invoked the Fifth Amendment and rejected the committee’s subpoena for documents relating to Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The Fifth Amendment gives an individual the right to avoid self-incrimination.

Read also: FBI beams search light on Trump’s son-in-law over Russia ties

In a related development, the Washington Post reports citing communications intercepted by U.S. intelligence officials that Ambassador Sergei Kislyak while reporting to his superiors in Moscow said senior adviser Jared Kushner wanted to set up a secret communications backchannel to communicate with Russian officials.

President Trump’s son-in-law had proposed using secure Russian diplomatic facilities to communicate with the Kremlin during the presidential transition, the Post report said.

However, Russia occasionally attempts to deliberately disclose misleading information when it believes it is being monitored, allowing for the possibility that the request from Kushner did not actually occur, the Post story noted.

Kushner is being investigated because of his meetings in December and other possible interactions with the Russian ambassador and a banker from Moscow, a report, citing people familiar with the investigation revealed.

The FBI, several congressional committees and a special counsel appointed by the Justice Department are looking into allegations of meddling by Russia in the 2016 U.S. election and possible ties between Trump’s presidential campaign and Russian officials seeking to influence the election.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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