White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Tuesday pushed back on a report that some of the lawyers on President Donald Trump’s outside legal team handling the federal investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election wanted Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner to step down.
“Was there any discussion about him stepping aside earlier this year, leaving the administration?” CNN’s Jim Acosta asked Sanders during her daily briefing.
“No, no conversation that I’m aware of,” Sanders replied. “And certainly no presentation, as both the President’s attorneys have gone on record to say.”
The Wall Street Journal reported late Monday that some of Trump’s lawyers felt Kushner should resign because of several meetings he had with Russian officials, and failed to disclose, before his father-in-law took office.
John Dowd, the leader of Trump’s outside legal team, told the Wall Street Journal that he “didn’t agree with that view at all” and said the proposal did not make it to Trump, to his knowledge.
Marc Kasowitz, who led Trump’s outside legal team until Dowd took over in July, said he “never discussed with other lawyers for the President that Jared Kushner should step down” and never made any such recommendation to Trump.
