Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner is putting blame on an assistant for issues with his security clearance form, saying there was a miscommunication when it was originally submitted.
In prepared remarks for congressional investigators released early Monday, Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, said his form was “prematurely submitted due to a miscommunication.”
The form initially did not list any contacts with foreign government officials, he said.
{mosads}Kushner said in the week before inauguration that people at his New York office were helping him find information for his security and financial disclosure forms.
“They sent an email to my assistant in Washington, communicating that the changes to one particular section were complete; my assistant interpreted that message as meaning that the entire form was completed,” he said in the statement.
“At that point, the form was a rough draft and still had many omissions including not listing any foreign government contacts and even omitted the address of my father-in-law (which was obviously well known).”
Kushner wrote that the draft was submitted on Jan. 18 because of the miscommunication.
Kushner said that when he realized the form had been submitted prematurely, his team told the transition team it needed to make changes and additions.
“The very next day, January 19, 2017, we submitted supplemental information to the transition, which confirmed receipt and said they would immediately transmit it to the FBI,” the statement said.
“The supplement disclosed that I had ‘numerous contacts with foreign officials’ and that we were going through my records to provide an accurate and complete list.”
He said it had been incorrectly reported that his submission omitted only contacts with Russians, but the “accidental early submission” did not include any foreign contacts.
Kushner said he has made every effort over the last six months to “provide the FBI with whatever information is needed to investigate my background.”
The statement comes after reports that Kushner had to amend his federal disclosure form several times to add to the list of foreign contacts.
Some lawmakers have called into question Kushner’s security clearance.
He is scheduled to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee in a closed hearing on Monday.