FBI now focusing on mysterious 30-minute meeting Kushner had with Putin banker ally: report

According to a report by the New York Times, President Donald Trump's adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner is now under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a meeting he had with a representative from a sanctioned Russian bank in December.

Kushner's meeting with Russian banker and Vladimir Putin ally Sergey Gorkov in December 2016 is, according to the Times, "now being scrutinized by the F.B.I. as part of its investigation into alleged Russian attempts to disrupt last year’s presidential campaign, and whether any of Mr. Trump’s advisers assisted in such efforts."

Kushner has also come under media scrutiny for another meeting he had with a Russian national -- in December, Kushner met with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak in Trump Tower to establish a back-channel with the Kremlin. The move is considered out-of-the ordinary for presidential transitions, and disgraced national security adviser Michael Flynn was also reportedly at the meeting.

Gorkov's bank, Vnesheconombank (VEB), was placed under sanction in 2014 by the American government for their role as a government-owned financial institution in Russia's annexation of Crimea. According to the Times, VEB also has "been used by Russian intelligence to plant spies in the United States. In March 2016, an agent of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, known as the S.V.R., who was caught posing as an employee of the bank in New York, pleaded guilty to spying against the United States."