Jared Kushner, one of President Donald Trump’s closest advisers, is to be questioned by a US committee investigating links between Mr Trump’s associates and Russia. 

Mr Kushner, who is Orthodox and married to Mr Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, volunteered to speak to the Senate Intelligence Committee, according to the White House. He will be questioned about two meetings he allegedly held with Russian officials during the post-election transition period. 

One was with the Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak at Trump Tower in New York in December. Michael Flynn, who was forced to resign as Mr Trump’s national security adviser over his failure to disclose his communications with Mr Kislyak, also attended the meeting. 

The second was with Sergey Gorkov, who was appointed by President Vladimir Putin to be head of Russia’s state-owned development bank, Vnesheconombank. The bank has been under US sanction for three years after Russia annexed part of Ukraine. 

The Senate Intelligence Committee is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. 

Mr Kushner could have avoided giving evidence by claiming executive privilege - withholding information in the public interest. However, the White House spokesman Sean Spicer said he had agreed to speak to the committee because “he wants to make sure that he’s very clear about the role that he played, who he talked to and that’s it”.