Donald Trump’s son-in-law was at the center of the conversation that resulted in the highly classified whistleblower complaint against Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
The complaint is related to an intercepted conversation between two foreign nationals discussing Jared Kushner, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
It could not be determined which country the two foreigners were from or what they said about the president’s son-in-law, but the conversation took place last spring.
The Journal attributed its report to U.S. officials familiar with the matter.
It is the latest revelation in a slow drip of information about the controversial whistleblower complaint, which Gabbard was accused of trying to bury for eight months. The Journal previously reported it had been locked in a safe.
Senior Trump administration officials told the Journal that the Kushner claims were demonstrably false, but they did not provide further details about the conversation, arguing that doing so could expose a highly sensitive surveillance method.
But the allegations in the conversation about Kushner would be significant if verified, other U.S. officials familiar with the matter told the Journal. They said there was no corroborating evidence, but that does not prove they are untrue.
Last week, The Guardian and other outlets reported that the National Security Agency (NSA) flagged a call between two foreign intelligence officials last spring discussing a person close to Donald Trump. The Journal also reported that it included issues related to Iran.
Despite having no formal government position in the second Trump administration and thus accountability, Kushner is now at the center of the president’s push for nuclear negotiations with Iran. He and real estate developer-turned-U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff met with Iranian officials for talks last week in Oman.
The 45-year-old investor, married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, has also taken a leading role in negotiating a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia, meeting directly with Vladimir Putin.
He also spearheaded the U.S. effort to reach a peace deal between Israel and Hamas last year and remains active in the talks to rebuild Gaza, all while his fund Affinity Partners has received billions from foreign investors in recent years.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence about Kushner being the topic of the foreign nationals’ conversation at the center of the whistleblower complaint.
According to the whistleblower’s attorney Andrew Bakaj, when the conversation was brought to Gabbard’s attention, rather than allowing the NSA to distribute it further, she instead took it to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
The Journal’s new reporting that Kushner was the center of it comes as the whistleblower’s attorneys have threatened to sue Gabbard if her office does not provide the security guidance it requested for the whistleblower to meet directly with members of the congressional intelligence committees.
The lawyers have accused Gabbard of stonewalling on the report for eight months after the whistleblower asked it be transmitted to Congress.
The same day the Journal first reported the existence of the complaint, ODNI provided the intelligence community inspector general with security guidance to transmit it to Congress.
Gabbard’s office has pushed back that they followed proper protocol for transmitting the complaint. A Gabbard spokeswoman told the Journal that she has worked “fully within her legal and statutory authority.”
Both the former acting inspector general and current intelligence community inspector general found one of the allegations in the complaint not credible and were unable to determine if the second allegation was.
A small group of top lawmakers, known as the Gang of Eight, were able to review the whistleblower complaint last week. However, it remained heavily redacted.
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