d. Jared Kushner's-Continuing Contacts with Simes
Between the April 2016 speech at the Mayflower Hotel and the presidential election, Jared
Kushner had periodic contacts with Simes.648 Those contacts consisted of both in-person meetings
and phone conversations, which concerned how to address issues relating to Russia in the
Campaign and how to move forward with the advisory group of foreign policy experts that Simes
had proposed.649 Simes recalled that he, not Kushner, initiated all conversations about Russia, and
that Kushner never asked him to set up back-channel conversations with Russians.650 According
to Simes, after the Mayflower speech in late April, Simes raised the issue of Russian contacts with
Kushner, advised that it was bad optics for the Campaign to develop hidden Russian contacts, and
told Kushner both that the Campaign should not highlight Russia as an issue and should handle
any contacts with Russians with care.651 Kushner generally provided a similar account of his
interactions with Simes.652
Oops, there it is. Mr. Simes from the CNI told Jared Kushner to be careful about overt signs of contacts with Russians. That alone is a connection to the Russian attacks. Simes, whether in contact with Putin or not, wanted to maintain clear boundaries between Trump's campaign and Russians of any vernacular.
Among the Kushner-Simes meetings was one held on August 17, 2016, at Simes' s request,
in Kushner's New York office. The meeting was to address foreign policy advice that CNI was
providing and how to respond to the Clinton Campaign's Russia-related attacks on candidate Trump.653 In advance of the meeting, Simes sent Kushner a "Russia Policy Memo" laying out
"what Mr. Trump may want to say about Russia."654 In a cover email transmitting that memo and
a phone call to set up the meeting, Simes mentioned "a well-documented story of highly
questionable connections between Bill Clinton" and the Russian government,
That is very clever. If Bill Clinton was having connections with the Russia government then why shouldn't Donald J. Trump.
"parts of [which]"
(according to Simes) had even been "discussed with the CIA and the FBI in the late 1990s
Oh, Simes had intimidation in mind to quiet Hillary's statements about Trump. Wow. In the 1990's Bill Clinton was either governor of Arkansas or President of the USA.
and
shared with the [Independent Counsel] at the end of the Clinton presidency."655 Kushner
forwarded the email to senior Trump Campaign officials Stephen Miller, Paul Manafort, and Rick
Gates, with the note "suggestion only."656 Manafort subsequently forwarded the email to his
assistant and scheduled a meeting with Simes.657 (Manafort was on the verge of leaving the
Campaign by the time of the scheduled meeting with Simes, and Simes ended up meeting only
with Kushner).
continued on following entry
Footnote 648 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 27.
Footnote 649 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 27.
Footnote 650 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 27.
Footnote 651 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 27. During this period of time, the Campaign received a request for a high level Campaign official to meet with an officer at a Russian state-owned bank "to discuss an offer [that
officer] claims to be carrying from President Putin to meet with" candidate Trump. NOSC00005653
(5/17/16 Email, Dearborn to Kushner (8: 12 a.m.)). Copying Manafort and Gates, Kushner responded, "Pass
on this. A lot of people come claiming to carry messages. Very few are able to verify. For now I think we
decline such meetings. Most likely these people go back home and claim they have special access to gain
importance for themselves. Be careful." NOSC00005653 (5/17/16 Email, Kushner to Dearborn).
Footnote 652 Kushner 4/11 /18 302, at 11-13.
Footnote 653 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 29-30; Simes 3/27 /18 302, at 6; Kushner 4/11/18 302, at 12; C00007269
(8/10/16 Meeting Invitation, Vargas to Simes et al.); DJTFP00023484 (8/11/16 Email, Hagan to Manafmt
(5:57:15 p.m.)).
Footnote 654 C00007981-84 (8/9/16 Email, Simes to Kushner (6:09:21 p.m.)). The memorandum
recommended "downplaying Russia as a U.S. foreign policy priority at this time" and suggested that "some
tend to exaggerate Putin's flaws." The memorandum also recommended approaching general Russian related questions in the framework of "how to work with Russia to advance important U.S. national
interests" and that a Trump Administration "not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy." The
memorandum did not discuss sanctions but did address how to handle Ukraine-related questions, including
questions about Russia's invasion and annexation of Crimea.
Footnote 655 C00007981 (8/9/16 Email, Simes to Kushner (6:09:21 p.m.)).
Footnote 656 DJTFP00023459 (8/10/16 Email, Kushner to S. Miller et al. (11 :30: 13 a.m.)).
Footnote 657 DJTFP00023484 (8/1 1/16 Email, Hagan to Manafort (5:57:15 p.m.)).
Below
Dimitri Simes’ interactions with the Trump campaign were of keen interest to the special prosecutor and he was heavily featured in the Mueller report. Simes, who immigrated to the U.S. from the Soviet Union and is now President and CEO of the Center for the National Interest, gives his exclusive interview to Christiane Amanpour.
