Mueller Team Probes Jared Kushner's Foreign Business Ties - Reports

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - FBI officials investigating allegations of Russian influence in the 2016 US election are examining a series of meetings during the presidential transition between White House aide Jared Kushner and potential investors in his family’s real-estate business, media reported.

Kushner, who is President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, met with government officials or potential investors from five nations, including Russia, during the period between Trump’s November 2016 election and the January 2017 inauguration, MSNBC reported based on unnamed sources.

"Special Counsel Robert Mueller's [FBI] team has asked witnesses about Kushner's efforts to secure financing for his family's real estate properties, focusing specifically on his discussions during the transition with individuals from Qatar and Turkey, as well as Russia, China and the United Arab Emirates [UAE]," the report said.

The FBI has contacted officials in Turkey and Qatar about meetings with Kushner, with Qatar declining to cooperate and Turkey’s response unclear, the report explained. It was also unclear whether Russian, Chinese and UAE officials had also been contacted.

Kushner's family real estate business, Kushner Companies, also approached Qatar multiple times, including last spring, about investing in a property in New York City, but the government sovereign wealth fund declined, the report said.

The Trump administration subsequently backed an economically punishing blockade against Qatar, led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, citing the country's support for terrorism as the impetus, the report emphasized.

In the report, a Kushner Companies spokesman said no meetings took place with Qatari officials and called the claim "inaccurate and false."

During the transition period, Kushner also met with Chinese Ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai, and Russian banker Sergey Gorkov, the report claimed.

Peter Mirijanian, a spokesman for Kushner's attorney, responded to MSNBC with a statement accusing unnamed sources of misleading the media about Mueller’s investigation.

"They [sources] do it knowing the Special Counsel cannot and will not respond to inaccurate leads," Mirijanian said. "Mr. Kushner's role in the campaign and transition was to be a point person for completely appropriate contacts from foreign officials and he did not mix his or his former company's business in those contacts and any claim otherwise is false."

Meanwhille, Kushner Companies LLC is reportedly seeking more than $1 billion in loans to refinance debt on properties in New York City and Chicago.