Rep. Adam Schiff (D), ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, suggested on Sunday that President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, may lose his security clearance if he lied about collaborating with Russia to establish back channel communications before the president took office.
During an interview with ABC's Martha Raddatz, Schiff pushed back on the idea that Russians planted the story about Kushners attempt to establish a secret line of communications with the Kremlin.
"It's hard to understand -- if these allegations are correct -- why this would be some kind of Russian ruse, why would they want to undermine the very government they hoped to have a good relationship with," Schiff said. "So, I'm not sure you can see a motive for a ruse here."
The congressman noted that his committee would eventually insist that Kushner testify.
"There's another question about his security clearance, and whether he was forthcoming about his contacts [with Russia]," he added. "If these allegations are true and he had discussions with the Russians about establishing a backchannel and didn't reveal that, that's a real problem in terms of whether he should maintain that security clearance."
"I think we need to get to the bottom of these allegations. But I do think there ought to be a review of his security clearance, and find out whether he was truthful and he was candid. If not then there's no way he can maintain that that kind of a clearance
