Wait, Jared Kushner did what with the WhatsApp app?
Even as Jerry Nadler’s House Judiciary Committee pushes forward with its broad investigation into numerous Donald Trump-related scandals, Elijah Cummings’ House Oversight Committee is focusing in on more specific scandals. Today, Cummings is targeting Jared Kushner over allegations that Kushner has been using personal email and an encrypted messaging service to communicate with foreign leaders.
Elijah Cummings is citing a meeting that he had with Kushner attorney Abbe Lowell back in December, which up to now wasn’t public knowledge. According to Cummings, Lowell admitted during the meeting that Jared Kushner uses the encrypted social media platform WhatsApp to communicate with world leaders, as reported by USA Today. This raises concerns on three levels. First, there is the question of whether this practice violates federal record keeping laws. Kushner claims he screen-shots all of his WhatsApp messages and submits them for collection. If this proves true, it would probably be compliant with the law.
Second, there is the question of whether this practice is safe. According to Cummings, Kushner’s attorney said in December that he didn’t know whether or not Kushner was transmitting classified information via WhatsApp. This would raise various security issues. It’s also worth pointing out that Donald Trump routinely vilified his opponent Hillary Clinton for allegedly transmitting classified information via a private email server.
Third, according to a new report from Politico, Jared Kushner “reportedly has communicated with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman via WhatsApp.” Considering that the Crown Price is widely believed to have been behind the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, we expect Elijah Cummings to ask a whole lot of questions going forward about those WhatsApp conversations. Stay tuned.
