Senate Judiciary Committee leadership sent a letter to Jared Kushner's attorney Thursday asking for emails and information the president's son-in-law and senior advisor has yet to provide. The letter referenced some specifics, including a “Russian backdoor overture and dinner invite."
Business Insider suggested the "backdoor overture" could be a reference to Kushner's early December meeting with then-Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, during which Kushner allegedly suggested setting up a "secure and secret" means of communication with the Kremlin.
Now, CBS News has identified the "dinner invite" reference:
A source familiar with the document request says the "dinner invite" referred to an email requesting a meeting with a man named Alexander Torshin and a woman reported to be Torshin's assistant, Maria Butina. The source says both claimed in the email to be members of an all-Russian organization called "The Right To Bear Arms."
According to the source, Torshin and Butina were hoping to meet then-candidate Trump and were eager for Mr. Trump to travel to Russia to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The request was made through an intermediary who was attached to a National Rifle Association (NRA) event in Kentucky.
A source says the intermediary forwarded the five-page request to Trump campaign officials, including Paul Manafort and Rick Gates. Eventually it was forwarded to Kushner. The source, who has seen the email, says Kushner declined the request for a meeting, apparently commenting that people claiming to carry messages to the campaign rarely are.
However, Torshin does have ties to the Kremlin. According to published reports, in 2015 he was appointed deputy governor of the Bank of Russia. Reports also suggest he is suspected of having ties to organized crime.
Read more: Senate panel interested in Russians' request for Trump meeting during campaign (CBS News)