white house Kushner: Mueller probe was 'more harmful' to U.S. than Russian election interference

Senior Trump administration adviser Jared Kushner said Tuesday that the 22-month Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller was “more harmful” to the United States than the Russian election interference Mueller was charged with investigating.

During a rare interview covering a wide range of hot-button issues at the TIME 100 Summit, Kushner claimed Russia's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election to aid President Donald Trump amounted to "a couple Facebook ads."


“You look at what Russia did, buying some Facebook ads and trying to sow dissent. It's a terrible thing,” Kushner said in his first public remarks since Mueller's report was released last week. “But I think the investigations and all of the speculation that's happened for the last two years has a much harsher impact on our democracy than a couple Facebook ads.”

Despite Kushner's claims that the Kremlin's election interference efforts were little more than a handful of paid Facebook posts, the report submitted by Mueller detailed a multifaceted operation that included social media posts written and targeted to sow division, as well as cyberattacks targeting 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, her campaign and the Democratic National Committee. The Russian government, which Mueller concluded acted because it felt it would benefit from a Trump presidency, later distributed stolen emails from Clinton and others via WikiLeaks and other online outlets.

Kushner, though, downplayed the scope of Russia's involvement in the 2016 election, in part because of the relatively light financial investment in Facebook ads.

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“I think they said they spent $160,000. I spent $160,000 on Facebook every three hours during the campaign,” he said. “If you look at the magnitude of what they did, the ensuing investigations have been way more harmful.”

The redacted version of Mueller's report published last week revealed that investigators did not find sufficient evidence of a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin but said the president's campaign was aware of the Kremlin's activities and knew it would benefit from them.

Kushner was one of the president's closest aides to sit for an interview with the special counsel. He was involved in a number of episodes described in Mueller's report, including a 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer who had promised compromising information on Clinton sourced from the Russian government.

Kushner said Tuesday that "we didn't know that Russia was doing what they were doing" when pressed why the Trump campaign didn't reject the foreign advances.

"When the whole notion of the Russian collusion narrative came up, I was the first person to say, 'I'm happy to participate with any investigations,'" he said. "I thought the whole thing was kind of nonsense, to be honest with you."

Trump cheered his son-in-law for giving a "great interview" in a tweet Tuesday, apparently pleased with Kushner's on-message emphasis of "no collusion," which has become a rallying cry for the president and his allies.

"Nice to have extraordinarily smart people serving our Country!" Trump said of his daughter Ivanka Trump's husband.

Kushner also answered questions about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post journalist killed last fall inside the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul on the orders, according to the U.S. intelligence community, of the Saudi government. Kushner has come under fire for his ties to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is alleged to have ordered Khashoggi's killing, in the wake of the murder amid criticism that the Trump administration is covering for those responsible for Khashoggi's death.

Kushner said he had advised the crown prince to be "as transparent as possible." When asked if the de facto Saudi leader had followed his advice, Kushner replied, "we'll find out."

"Obviously, we have to make sure there's accountability for what happened," said Kushner, who added that the State Department is leading the administration's efforts to get to the bottom of the "terrible tragedy."

The conversation segued into a discussion of the Trump administration's Middle East peace plan, which Kushner said will be put forward after Ramadan.

Kushner — who helped craft the plan — said its rollout was delayed by Israel's elections but promised the in-depth proposal would present a "comprehensive vision" for peace. He did not discuss details of the plan, refusing to say whether it would call for a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine.

“There will be tough compromises for both,” Kushner said.

Kushner also said the president's advisers would present Trump with an immigration plan this week or next week, paving the way for the administration's next steps to address one of the president's signature campaign issues.

The plan will address border security, a guest worker program for agricultural work and a merit-based immigration system, among other proposals, Kushner said. He noted that the the proposal has the support of White House aide Stephen Miller and Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Kevin Hassett. When asked, Kushner said he and Miller "have not had any fights" over immigration policy.

Trump will "make some changes, likely, and then he’ll decide what he wants to do with it,” Kushner said.