The Latest Revelations on Jared Kushner

Would you buy a used car from these guys?

The latest news reporting on trump scandals is that first-son-in-law, Jared Kushner, may have attempted to set up secret, back-channel communications with Russian officials during the transition. This is reported independently by the Washington Post and Reuters who claim sources (i.e., leaks) from within US Intelligence Agencies.

This immediately tells us that trump's war with US national security interests is not over and they are fighting back. The leaks are troubling, not as much as leaks but what they appear to reveal.

First, they reveal that US security agencies do not trust trump and his family. Whether the underlying facts are true or not, there are powerful elements of the US government who are undermining trump. Some of these disclosures may be technically illegal. However, all federal employees, political or career, sign an oath that their highest duty is to the Constitution of the United States. It is not to the President or any party or political view. It is to the Constitutional Union of these United States. (If you need a Hollywood explanation, try the scene in Clear and Present Danger in which James Earl Jones playing he CIA Director (the voice of Darth Vader) tells Harrison Ford, playing  government agent, Jack Ryan (not Han Solo) that his highest duty is to the Constitution, not to the President. Now, it's still very troubling that this appears to be a silent coup of the security forces by leaks to the press and likely formal and appropriate revelations to Congressional Committees and the new Special Counsel. This is really big time.

Second, it seems odd to me that Jared would try to set up secret channels with the Russians after the election is already won. He may have thought he needed a way for tip-offs or coordination as the Russian interference in the election was already a known fact and they needed to hide any collusion from US Intelligence Agencies. It's rather naive to think they could do so without US Intelligence discovering. But I think it may have been a simpler motive.  Neither Kushner nor trump have made full disclosure of business dealings with Russian interests. It is somewhat hilarious to see them admit to specific interests and contacts or meetings after they are revealed by the Press or some more formal investigative body. They are at least attempting to avoid outright perjury which may fail as that gets to be a tricky thing (as my Mom told me about lying and Bill Clinton learned lying about sex). My personal theory is that Jared was trying to set up a secret channel to protect his financial interests from revelations or to assist in damage control if they were to be revealed. This is crass, crooked capitalism in all its glory.

Third, each revelation leads to more. The hornets nest has been poked repeatedly and they are swarming. This will not end well. The only interested party that will gain out of this no matter what happens in establishing actual facts is Putin's oligarchic empire. The instability they have already accomplished within the American government, our political elections, and our Constitutional systems is appalling. And someone simply invited them in. It appears to be several of trump's people and likely trump himself as he did invite them into the Oval Office laughing and joking.

For you history buffs out there, this is going much as Watergate did; confidential sources in the Press later confirmed by formal investigations which so far consists of a Special Counsel, Congressional committees, and there are still New York State and federal investigations ongoing into trump and likely Kushner financial enterprises. It may seem like a confusing three or four-ring circus, but it is all coming together like a jigsaw puzzle. There is meat in this, much more than the tofu in the endless Clinton investigations.

I weep for America.