U. S. President Donald Trump's National Security Adviser, H. R. McMaster has declined to answer questions specifically on the growing controversy surrounding Jared Kushner, saying "That's something I'm not prepared to talk about."
Trump's top economic and national security advisers refused to comment on the series of allegations that Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner is facing regarding his contacts with Russian officials during a news briefing of Trump's maiden foreign trip.
Kushner is under FBI scrutiny related to the investigation of the Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential elections.
McMaster declined to say whether he would be concerned if a private citizen attempted to set up backchannel communications with a foreign government to influence US foreign policy and said he would not be concerned if a White House official attempted to do so.
"We have backchannel communications with a number of countries," CNN quoted McMaster as saying.
"That's something I'm not prepared to talk about," McMaster said when he was first asked about the allegations.
Reports have emerged that Kushner had discussed the possibility of setting up a secret and secure communications channel between Trump transition team and the Kremlin with Russia's ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Gary Cohn, the director of the National Economic Council, swatted away the questions saying "We're not going to comment on Jared. We're just not going to comment."
Federal investigators have been taking a closer look at the Trump's campaign and points of focus that pertain to Kushner include: The Trump campaign's 2016 data analytics operation which was supervised by him; his relationship with former national security adviser Michael Flynn and Kushner's own contacts with Russians.
The Washington Post reported that according to the U.S. officials briefed on intelligence reports of Russia probe, Kushner and Russian ambassador to Washington Sergei Kislyak discussed the possibility of setting up a secret and secure communications channel. The meeting was also attended by Michael Flynn, Trump's first national security adviser who was forced to resign after he failed to disclose his meetings with Russian officials.
Kislyak reportedly was taken aback by the suggestion of allowing an American to use Russian communications gear at its embassy.
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