Page:Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election.pdf/169

 Kushner asked Kislyak if they could communicate using secure facilities at the Russian Embassy. Kislyak quickly rejected that idea.


 * 4.

On December 6, 2016, the Russian Embassy reached out to Kushner's assistant to set up a second meeting between Kislyak and Kushner. Kushner declined several proposed meeting dates, but Kushner's assistant indicated that Kislyak was very insistent about securing a second meeting. Kushner told the Office that he did not want to take another meeting because he had already decided Kislyak was not the right channel for him to communicate with Russia, so he arranged to have one of his assistants, Avi Berkowitz, meet with Kislyak in his stead. Although embassy official Sergey Kuznetsoy wrote to Berkowitz that Kislyak thought it "important" to "continue the conversation with Mr. Kushner in person," Kislyak nonetheless agreed to meet instead with Berkowitz once it became apparent that Kushner was unlikely to take a meeting.

Berkowitz met with Kislyak on December 12, 2016, at Trump Tower. The meeting lasted only a few minutes, during which Kislyak indicated that he wanted Kushner to meet someone who had a direct line to Putin: Sergey Gorkov, the head of the Russian-government- owned bank Vnesheconombank (VEB).

Kushner agreed to meet with Gorkov. The one-on-one meeting took place the next day, December 13, 2016, at the Colony Capital building in Manhattan, where Kushner had previously scheduled meetings. VEB was (and is) the subject of Department of Treasury economic sanctions imposed in response to Russia's annexation of Crimea. Kushner did not, however, recall any discussion during his meeting with Gorkoy about the sanctions against VEB or sanctions more generally. Kushner stated in an interview that he did not engage in any preparation for