Reuters Articles on Kushner Statement Omit Challenge of Agency’s Reporting

In a written statement to the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner disputed a claim made by Reuters that he placed two phone calls to Russia’s ambassador to the U.S.

Despite the news agency being featured prominently in Kushner’s publicly released written statement, Reuters failed to mention Kushner’s challenge to the agency’s reporting in its own coverage of his statement.

Reuters further failed to feature Kushner’s response to its reporting in a “Factbox” article purportedly summarizing Kushner’s statement.

In the full written statement, Kushner challenged a Reuters report quoting anonymous sources claiming that he made two phone calls to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Kushner says his lawyer contacted the news agency, and Reuters refused to “provide any corroborating evidence” that the phone calls occurred.

Here is the relevant section of Kushner’s statement:

Reuters news service has reported that I had two calls with Ambassador Kislyak at some time between April and November of 2016. While I participated in thousands of calls during this period, I do not recall any such calls with the Russian Ambassador. We have reviewed the phone records available to us and have not been able to identify any calls to any number we know to be associated with Ambassador Kislyak and I am highly skeptical these calls took place. A comprehensive review of my land line and cell phone records from the time does not reveal those calls.

I had no ongoing relationship with the Ambassador before the election, and had limited knowledge about him then. In fact, on November 9, the day after the election, I could not even remember the name of the Russian Ambassador. When the campaign received an email purporting to be an official note of congratulations from President Putin, I was asked how we could verify it was real. To do so I thought the best way would be to ask the only contact I recalled meeting from the Russian government, which was the Ambassador I had met months earlier, so I sent an email asking Mr. Simes, “What is the name of the Russian ambassador?”

Through my lawyer, I have asked Reuters to provide the dates on which the calls supposedly occurred or the phone number at which I supposedly reached, or was reached by, Ambassador Kislyak. The journalist refused to provide any corroborating evidence that they occurred.

On May 27, Reuters published an article titled, “Exclusive: Trump son-in-law had undisclosed contacts with Russian envoy – sources.”

The article quoted “seven current and former U.S. officials” as saying that Kushner “had at least three previously undisclosed contacts” with Kislyak during and after the 2016 presidential race.

“Those contacts included two phone calls between April and November last year, two of the sources said,” the article continues.

Kushner’s response to Reuters’ reporting was not mentioned in the agency’s article titled, “Factbox: Trump son-in-law Kushner details contacts with Russians.” That article purports to be “some of the main points” featured in Kushner’s full statement.

Another Reuters article reporting on Kushner’s statement, titled, “Jared Kushner details contacts with Russians, denies collusion,” also does not include Kushner’s challenge to Reuters’ reportage.

Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio.” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook.

This article was written with additional research by Joshua Klein.