Kushner, Flynn met with Russian ambassador in December

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Trump hits press on Flynn

But only after firing retired general

President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn had a previous undisclosed meeting with the Russian ambassador in December at Trump Tower in New York, officials confirmed Thursday to Fox News.

The meeting between the Kushner, Flynn, and Sergey Kislyak, first reported by the New York Times, focused on establishing "a line of communication" between the new administration and Russian government, according to the paper.

Hope Hicks, a White House spokeswoman, told the New York Times the meeting lasted 20 minutes, and that Kushner has not met with Kislyak since.

“They generally discussed the relationship and it made sense to establish a line of communication,” Hicks said. “Jared has had meetings with many other foreign countries and representatives — as many as two dozen other foreign countries’ leaders and representatives.”

A separate official told the Associated Press the sit down was a "brief courtesy meeting."

Flynn was fired last month because he misled Vice President Mike Pence and other White House officials about his contacts with Kislyak.

The disclosure came the same day Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he will recuse himself from “any existing or future investigations” regarding the 2016 presidential campaign, responding to bipartisan pressure to step aside from a probe into Moscow meddling amid revelations he spoke twice with Russia’s ambassador and didn’t disclose it to Congress.

Fox News' John Roberts contributed to this report.