645 focused on Russia. Khalilzad, for example, recalled discussing “nation- 646 building” and violent extremism with Sessions. In addition, Sessions asked Saunders (of CNI) to draft two memoranda not specific to Russia: one on Hillary 647 Clinton’s foreign policy shortcomings and another on Egypt. d. Jared Kushner’s Continuing Contacts with Simes Between the April 2016 speech at the Mayflower Hotel and the presidential 648 election, Jared Kushner had periodic contacts with Simes. Those contacts consisted of both in-person meetings and phone conversations, which concerned how to address issues relating to Russia in the Campaign and how to move forward with the advisory group of foreign policy experts that Simes had 649 proposed. Simes recalled that he, not Kushner, initiated all conversations about Russia, and that Kushner never asked him to set up back-channel 650 conversations with Russians. According to Simes, after the Mayflower speech in late April, Simes raised the issue of Russian contacts with Kushner, advised that it was bad optics for the Campaign to develop hidden Russian contacts, and told Kushner both that the Campaign should not highlight Russia 651 as an issue and should handle any contacts with Russians with care. Kushner 652 generally provided a similar account of his interactions with Simes. Among the Kushner-Simes meetings was one held on August 17, 2016, at Simes’s request, in Kushner’s New York office. The meeting was to address foreign policy advice that CNI was providing and how to respond to the Clinton 653 Campaign’s Russia-related attacks on candidate Trump. In advance of the meeting, Simes sent Kushner a “Russia Policy Memo” laying out “what Mr. 654 Trump may want to say about Russia.” In a cover email transmitting that memo and a phone call to set up the meeting, Simes mentioned “a well- documented story of highly questionable connections between Bill Clinton” and the Russian government, “parts of [which]” (according to Simes) had even been “discussed with the CIA and the FBI in the late 1990s and shared with the 655 [Independent Counsel] at the end of the Clinton presidency.” Kushner forwarded the email to senior Trump Campaign officials Stephen Miller, Paul 656 Manafort, and Rick Gates, with the note “suggestion only.” Manafort subsequently forwarded the email to his assistant and scheduled a meeting with