Kushner Received ‘Random Email’ Demanding Ransom During Election

FILE - In this Monday, June 5, 2017 file photo, senior adviser to President Donald Trump Jared Kushner, right, and Ivanka Trump, the daughter of President Donald Trump, sit in the front row in East Room of the White ... FILE - In this Monday, June 5, 2017 file photo, senior adviser to President Donald Trump Jared Kushner, right, and Ivanka Trump, the daughter of President Donald Trump, sit in the front row in East Room of the White House in Washington. Donald Trump’s eldest son, son-in-law and then-campaign chairman met with a Russian lawyer shortly after Trump won the Republican nomination, in what appears to be the earliest known private meeting between key aides to the president and a Russian. Representatives of Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner confirmed the June 2016 meeting to The Associated Press after The New York Times reported Saturday, July 8, 2017 on the gathering of the men and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File) MORE LESS
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President Donald Trump’s son-in-law says he received a “random email” during the presidential campaign from someone claiming to have Trump’s tax returns and demanding ransom to keep the information secret.

Jared Kushner says he interpreted the email as a hoax. Kushner says the email came from a person going by the name “Guccifer400.” The name is an apparent reference to Guccifer 2.0, an anonymous hacker who has claimed responsibility for breaking into the Democratic National Committee’s computer systems.

Kushner says the emailer demanded payment in Bitcoin, an online currency. Kushner says he showed the email to a Secret Service agent, who told him to ignore it. Kushner disclosed the details of the email ahead of a closed-door interview Monday with a Senate committee investigating Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election.

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