The Russia Probe Is Officially a Family Affair

As I guessed, Jared Kushner is indeed the White House official who is being investigated as part of the probe into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Ken Dilanian, Peter Alexander, and Courtney Kube at NBC News: Jared Kushner Under Scrutiny in Russia Probe, Officials Say.

Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and one of his senior advisers, has come under FBI scrutiny in the Russia investigation, multiple U.S. officials told NBC News.

Investigators believe Kushner has significant information relevant to their inquiry, officials said. That does not mean they suspect him of a crime or intend to charge him.

The FBI's scrutiny of Kushner places the bureau's sprawling counterintelligence and criminal investigation not only on the doorstep of the White House, but the Trump family circle.

...It is not known whether Kushner has received any records requests from federal investigators.

Also unclear is what precisely about Kushner's activities has drawn the FBI's interest as it investigates whether Trump associates coordinated with the Russian campaign to interfere in the election.

The reason I suspected Kushner was because the original report noted that investigators were focused not only on Russia's interference but also on "possible financial crimes." That made Kushner a likely candidate because he—in addition to former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and two members of the Trump campaign's national security team, J.D. Gordon and Carter Page—had an undisclosed meeting with Russian ambassador, Sergey I. Kislyak.

Later, at Kislyak's request, Kushner also met with Sergey N. Gorkov, the chief of Vnesheconombank.

Vnesheconombank is Russia's state-owned economic development bank, which is controlled by members of Putin's regime and was subject to U.S. sanctions following Putin's annexation of Crimea and operations in Ukraine.

It's not clear at all why Kushner would be asked by the Russian ambassador to meet with Vnesheconombank's chief. What kind of business could the son-in-law of the U.S. president have with a bank run by Putin and on the U.S.'s sanctions list?

I'm guessing that investigators would like to answer that question.

Then again, it could be something else entirely, since Kushner's got his hands in every cookie jar in the Oval Office.