Kushner: 'I did not collude with Russia'

WASHINGTON - Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump's son-in-law, emerged from behind the scenes on Monday to tell Senate investigators he had no part in any Kremlin attempt to meddle in the US election despite having met Russians four times last year.

"All of my actions were proper and occurred in the normal course of events of a very unique campaign," Kushner later told reporters outside the White House. "I did not collude with Russia, nor do I know of anyone else in the campaign who did."

Kushner, 36, a senior White House adviser, met Senate Intelligence Committee staff behind closed doors for about two hours. Two sources with knowledge of what Kushner told them said the session was pleasant and conversational.

In an 11-page written statement Kushner made public before the meeting, the real estate businessman portrayed himself as new to politics when he became a top adviser to Trump's 2016 campaign. The letter was his fullest account to date of contacts with Russian officials.

A businessman married to Trump's eldest daughter Ivanka, Kushner has rarely spoken in public since his father-in-law launched his presidential campaign in mid-2015. "I am not a person who has sought the spotlight," he wrote.

Trump prevailed over his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in November 2016 because he ran a "smarter campaign" and to suggest otherwise "ridicules those who voted for him", Kushner said at the White House. He took no questions.

The congressional committee is one of several investigating the conclusion of US intelligence agencies that Russia, under Russian President Vladimir Putin, engaged in a hacking and propaganda campaign to try to tilt the November election in Trump's favor.

Russia denies the accusation, and Trump denies his campaign colluded with Moscow.

Special counsel Robert Mueller is leading a separate probe into the Russia matter.

Reuters