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Where is Jared Kushner? Democrats unable to serve Russian collusion lawsuit for months

Nobody can seem to find a way to get court papers to the president's son-in-law

Chris Riotta
New York
Wednesday 18 July 2018 16:59 BST
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Jared Kushner has seemingly avoided receiving a summons over a lawsuit accusing him of Russian collusion during the 2016 presidential election.
Jared Kushner has seemingly avoided receiving a summons over a lawsuit accusing him of Russian collusion during the 2016 presidential election.

Has anyone seen Jared Kushner?

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has been unable to formally serve the 37-year-old White House senior adviser with paperwork informing him that he was sued in April. In its lawsuit, the committee sued Russia, the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks alleging widespread interference in the 2016 election as part of a “brazen attack on American democracy.” Mr Kushner is named as a defendant in the complaint.

He has yet to even acknowledge the lawsuit’s existence, however. DNC officials described their exhaustive, months-long efforts to reach Mr Trump's son-in-law in a Manhattan court this week, while requesting special permission to simply mail him the summons rather than serving it in person.

One attempt to deliver the summons to his Washington home was reportedly stopped by secret service agents. Mr Kushner was also seemingly unavailable to receive the paperwork at his Manhattan address on three separate occasions.

When the DNC attempted to send Mr Kushner the summons in a package via certified mail through the US Postal Service, they were told nobody would sign for it.

"First-class mail does not require a signature, and will therefore remain at Kushner’s home — and not returned to sender — if no one signs a delivery receipt," the committee said in court. The request was denied on Tuesday.

“Service is not intended to be a game for the serving party or the party to be served,” US District Judge John Koeltl said in his ruling. “The court is confident that the DNC’s counsel can contact Kushner’s counsel and arrange a mutually convenient means to effectuate service.”

Jared Kushner says he had no improper conduct with Russian officials after appearing before Senate

Mr Kushner is just one of the defendants listed in the civil lawsuit filed on April 20 in the Southern District of New York. Several other members of Mr Trump’s presidential campaign and family are also included, such as Donald Trump Jr, former campaign manager Paul Manafort and his associate Richard Gates, former foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos and Roger Stone, one of the president’s longtime confidants.

Foreign actors like the Russian Federation and a slew of Russian officers and hacking entities are also named in the lawsuit, which alleges Mr Trump’s campaign “gleefully welcomed Russia’s help” in winning the national election.

The DNC suit attempts to connect multiple cyber attacks on the Democratic Party with the president’s campaign, suggesting Mr Kushner and others openly received assistance from foreign agents and even helped coordinate the release of hacked emails.

The attacks "sowed discord … at a time when party unity was essential to electoral success," according to the lawsuit, and undermined the Democratic Party’s ability "to communicate party values and vision to the American electorate."

“This civil lawsuit is completely without merit and will be dismissed in due time,” Mr Trump’s presidential campaign — which remains active ahead of 2020 — said in a statement when the lawsuit was first announced. The campaign described the lawsuit as “frivolous,” and a ”last-ditch effort to substantiate the baseless Russian collusion allegations by the nearly-bankrupt Democratic Party.“

The White House and a representative for Mr Kushner did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Mr Kushner has previously denied any coordination between the campaign and Russian officials, saying in a statement last year, “With respect to my contacts with Russia or Russian representatives during the campaign, there were hardly any.”

“I did not collude, nor know of anyone else in the campaign who colluded, with any foreign government,” he continued. ”I had no improper contacts. I have not relied on Russian funds to finance my business activities in the private sector.“

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