A political analyst who has worked under several presidents raised the possibility Friday of Jared Kushner taking a leave of absence in the wake of claims he tried to set up an off-the-record communications line with Russia.
Kushner, a senior adviser to President Donald Trump who is also his son-in-law, reportedly met with Russian officials last year about setting up a backchannel for the Trump White House to communicate with the Kremlin.
CNN's David Gergen said Kushner needs to tread lightly.
"Jared Kushner has to be extremely careful what he says to people. He cannot be in a position where it's later claimed that he's witness-tampering," Gergen said.
"People around him are going to eventually testify. If he goes up and gives them instructions about how to think about this or that, that can be considered tampering.
"It's one of the reasons why I think Jared Kushner should be considering the possibility in a serious way of taking a leave of absence."
The Washington Examiner posted a clip of Gergen's comment.
It was reported earlier this week that Kushner was asked to lay low in the wake of the bombshell report that came out last week, which suggested Kushner asked the Russians to use their secure communications facilities to facilitate discussions between Trump's team and that of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer was asked Friday if Trump still has confidence in Kushner, to which he replied, "absolutely."
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