Trump attacks ‘fake news’ following Kushner reports
by Doina Chiacu and Toni Clarke
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump attacked the news media and dismissed leaks from the White House as “fake news” on Sunday, following reports his son-in-law tried to set up a secret channel of communications with Moscow before Trump took office.
Shortly after Trump’s remarks on Twitter, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly made the rounds of Sunday television news shows to praise any so-called back channel communications, especially with Russia, as “a good thing.”
The Republican president returned to the White House after a nine-day trip to the Middle East and Europe that ended on Saturday to face more questions about alleged communications between Jared Kushner and Russia’s ambassador to Washington.
“It is my opinion that many of the leaks coming out of the White House are fabricated lies made up by the #FakeNews media,” Trump wrote in a series of Twitter posts on Sunday.
The White House faces mounting questions about potential ties between Russia and Trump’s presidential campaign, which are also the subject of criminal and congressional investigations. Trump officials were preparing to establish a “war room” to address an issue that has begun to dominate his young presidency.
Aides said Trump was expected to meet with lawyers as early as Sunday, the New York Times reported.
Two Republican U.S. senators played down the Kushner reports on Sunday, while the former director of national intelligence, James Clapper, took a darker view of such contacts with representatives of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“My dashboard warning light was clearly on and I think that was the case with all of us in the intelligence community – very concerned about the nature of these approaches to the Russians,” Clapper told NBC’s “Meet The Press.”
Kushner, who is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, had contacts with Moscow in December about opening a secret back channel of communications, according to news reports published while Trump was away on his trip.
The 36-year-old Kushner, a real estate developer with no previous government Trump attacks ‘fake news’ following Kushner reports:
