Some of the lawyers on President Donald Trump’s outside legal team handling matters related to the Russia probe decided this summer that Jared Kushner, son-in-law and senior adviser to Trump, should resign from his role at the White House, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.
The lawyers felt Kushner should step down because he had several meetings with Russian officials before Trump took office and because he initially failed to disclose those meetings, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The attorneys took their concerns to the president, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal, but two members of the legal team were unable to confirm this to the newspaper. Trump did not believe that Kushner needed to leave the White House, per the report.
John Dowd, who now leads Trump’s outside legal team, told the Journal that some of the attorneys held this view of Kushner, but that he disagreed with their assessment. He also told the Journal that he was not aware those lawyers aired their concerns to the President.
“I didn’t agree with that view at all. I thought it was absurd,” Dowd said. “I made my views known.”
Marc Kasowitz, who left his role leading Trump’s outside legal team in July, denied that he had any involvement in a recommendation to the President that Kushner should go.
“I never discussed with other lawyers for the President that Jared Kushner should step down from his position at the White House, I never recommended to the President that Mr. Kushner should step down from that position and I am not aware that any other lawyers for the President made any such recommendation either,” he said in a statement to the Journal.
Read the full report here.
