According to recent reports, Robert Mueller’s Special Counsel investigation is zeroing in on President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, for his contacts with various foreign leaders during the presidential transition period as well as his possible role in the firing of former FBI Director James Comey.
Complicating matters is the fact that earlier this year, Kushner—who is married to the president’s daughter Ivanka—testified to congressional investigators that he did not recall anyone in the Trump camp communicating with WikiLeaks. That testimony seems to be contradicted by recent disclosures from the Senate Judiciary Committee revealing that, “Kushner did receive and forward an email from Donald Trump Jr. about contact Trump Jr. had with WikiLeaks” to then campaign spokesman Hope Hicks, who now serves as White House communications director, reported CNN.
Enter Seth Meyers: “So all of this doesn’t necessary prove collusion, but think about it like this: If Debbie says she didn’t go to Karen’s house but it turns out she was at Karen’s house, and Sheila says she wasn’t at Karen’s house but it turns out she was at Karen’s house, eventually you’ve got to wonder, ‘What the fuck is going on at Karen’s house?’”
The Late Night host added, “It’s so amazing that these two [Don Jr. and Jared] are the ones that fell ass-backwards into a potential criminal conspiracy.”
Yes, Meyers dedicated the Wednesday night edition of his “A Closer Look” segment to the Mueller probe, and its focus on Kushner.
Meyers argued that Kushner’s excuses for leaving out his contacts with Russian officials have been “less than persuasive” thus far. For starters, Kushner “blamed his assistant” for initially filing an incomplete security clearance form, and later offered, “It was typical for me to receive 200 or more emails a day during the campaign…I did not have the time to read every one.”
But wait, there’s more: “Then of course there’s the fact that Kushner completely failed to disclose to investigators the existence of a private email server. Kushner’s lawyer said he and Kushner had reviewed the emails and decided that none were relevant to the Russia investigation,” said Meyers.
“Huh. I feel like I’ve heard that somewhere before,” Meyers said, before throwing to a clip of Hillary Clinton trying to explain away Emailgate. “Oh my god, they’re doing everything they attacked Hillary for!”
At the beginning of this month, Vanity Fair correspondent Gabriel Sherman reported that Trump was starting to turn on his son-in-law.
“Speaking to Steve Bannon on Tuesday, Trump blamed Jared Kushner for his role in decisions, specifically the firings of Mike Flynn and James Comey, that led to Mueller’s appointment,” Sherman wrote. “When Roger Stone recently told Trump that Kushner was giving him bad political advice, Trump agreed.”
The most damning quote in the VF piece came courtesy of former Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg: “Jared is the worst political adviser in the White House in modern history,” he said. “I’m only saying publicly what everyone says behind the scenes at Fox News, in convervative media, and the Senate and Congress.”
“Wow,” said Meyers. “When you put the slightest amount of pressure on them, the Trump team stabs back like eighth grade girls. ‘Everyone knows Jared is shady as F.’ ‘Oh, hi Jared! Are you going to the party? It’s at Karen’s house!’”