New York // Russia's ambassador to Washington told his superiors that Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law, wanted to set up a secret communications channel with the Kremlin, according to the latest revelations about links between the Trump campaign and Moscow.
US officials told The Washington Post that the aim was to shield pre-inauguration discussions from American monitoring.
The newspaper cited anonymous officials who had been briefed on information gleaned from intercepted Russian communications.
Mr Trump was returning from his first foreign trip on Saturday to find his administration still besieged from the fallout of a slew of investigations into his team's ties to Moscow. After a broadly successful trip to the Middle East and Europe he will find that the probes have now reached his inner circle.
In recent days it emerged that the FBI was looking at Mr Kushner, who is married to Ivanka Trump, and meetings he held with prominent Russians after Mr Trump's unexpected election victory.
They include a meeting on December 1 or 2 at Trump Tower in New York with Sergey Kislyak, Russia's ambassador to Washington. Intercepts of communications with Russia reportedly show Mr Kislyak informing his superiors that Mr Kushner proposing the use of Russian diplomatic facilities for the confidential channel.
The ambassador was described as "taken aback" by the idea, which would have meant letting an American use sensitive equipment at his embassy, a breach of protocol carrying security risks for both sides.
Michael Flynn, Trump's first national security adviser, was also present.
Mr Kushner's lawyer has previously said his client was ready to talk to congress and to federal investigators about his contacts and role in the election campaign.
Although the secret channel was never set up, it is just the latest worrying detail to emerge from probes into the nature of relationships between the Trump campaign and Moscow.
Stuart Rothenberg, a political analyst based in Washington, said the revelations showed no signs of slowing, particularly with the recent appointment of Robert Mueller, a former FBI director, to oversee the justice department's Russia investigation.
"Just when you think you have heard something that's dramatic and mind-boggling something else happens, and that's what comes with investigations," he said.
"Having Mueller there you just have to be prepared for the next shoe to drop."
American intelligence agencies have concluded that the highest levels of the Russian government authorised efforts to influence the outcome of the US presidential election.
Two congressional committees and the FBI have launched investigations looking into, among other things, whether anyone in Mr Trump's team was aware of the Russian intervention.
No evidence has so far been found, but the issue is threatening to derail Mr Trump's administration as its day-to-day business is consumed by crisis management.
Further trouble emerged yesterday with Reuters reporting that Mr Kushner had at least three previously undisclosed contacts with the Russian ambassador last year, including two phone calls between April and November.
The negative headlines have sparked speculation of a White House shake-up. The Wall Street Journal reports aides are discussing bringing in crisis managers, having lawyers vet Mr Trump's tweets and replacing senior communications staff.
"Everything is in play," a Trump adviser told the newspaper.
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