‘Jared Kushner should have security clearance reviewed’

Washington, May 29 (IANS) US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner should have his security clearance reviewed after the revelation that he allegedly spoke with a Russian ambassador, the House Intelligence Committee's top Democrat has said.

"There ought to be a review of his security clearance to find out whether he was truthful, whether he was candid," Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said on ABC News' "This Week" on Sunday, the NY Daily News reported.

"If not, then there's no way he can maintain that kind of a clearance."

He said that Kushner's contacts with the Russians, if true, present "a real problem" in whether President Trump's son-in-law should be trusted.

Schiff said he expects Kushner, who serves as a senior adviser to Trump, will soon be asked to testify before his House committee.

The Washington Post reported on Friday that Kushner, a real estate mogul, met Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in December to talk about setting up a secret communications channel between Trump's transition team and the Kremlin to discuss Syria and other diplomatic issues.

Kushner was joined by Michael Flynn, the retired general who would resign as Trump's national security adviser after reports that he secretly spoke with Kislyak about sanctions.

The FBI is reportedly looking into Kushner and the Kislyak conversation as part of its probe into Russia's alleged hacking of the 2016 campaign and possible collusion with the Trump campaign.

The White House has tried to downplay Kushner's contacts, and Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said Sunday he "didn't see any big issue."

"I know Jared. He's a great guy, decent guy," Kelly told NBC News' "Meet the Press."

"His number one, number one interest is the nation. So you know there's a lot of different ways to communicate - back-channel, publicly - with other countries."