Trump Lawyers Wanted Kushner Fired Over Russian Probe, WSJ Reports

Aides went as far as drafting a statement explaining Kushner’s departure

| September 11, 2017 @ 7:10 PM Last Updated: September 11, 2017 @ 7:11 PM
Jared Kushner

Getty Images

Some of President Trump’s lawyers urged him to fire Jared Kushner as White House senior adviser earlier this year in an effort to curb the potential legal complications stemming from the ongoing Russia investigation, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Sources familiar with the matter told the Journal that several of Trump’s attorneys were worried about Kushner’s various meetings with Russian officials during the 2016 presidential campaign, and went as far as approaching the president about it.

The concerns were serious enough for aides of Trump’s legal team to draft a statement in anticipation of having to explain why the president’s son-in-law was leaving the White House.

Also Read: FBI Conducting Investigation Into Possible Jared Kushner-Russia Connection

The statement, written on Kushner’s behalf, blamed a “toxic” political environment for his departure, lamenting that a standard meeting was being used as a “weapon for Mr. Trump’s critics,” two people familiar with the documents told the Journal.

The June 16 meeting — also attended by Donald Trump Jr. and former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort — was, apparently, “a central concern of Trump’s lawyers.”

Both Special Counsel Robert Mueller and congressional investigators are looking into the meeting. Trump Jr. was interviewed by the Senate Judiciary Committee’s staff last week for five hours.

Also Read: Sarah Huckabee Sanders: Trump 'Certainly Didn't Dictate' Don Jr. Statement on Russia Meeting

John Dowd, who’s been heading Trump’s legal team since June, told the WSJ that, to his knowledge, the proposal wasn’t taken to the president and that he didn’t agree with his colleagues who thought Kushner needed to go.

The president’s legal team also had issues with Kushner’s federal disclosure forms, which he updated several times, adding more than 100 names of foreign individuals he has had contact with.

Here's Everyone Who Dumped Trump This Week (Photos)

  • donald trump
  • WikiCommons
  • WikiCommons
  • Scott Paul Twitter
  • Getty
  • CBS
  • Twitter
  • American Affairs
  • james murdoch donald trump Getty Images
  • Kal Penn Getty Images
  • Steve Bannon Getty Images
  • WikiCommons
  • carl icahn N/A
1 of 13

From the manufacturing council to James Murdoch, Trump’s response to Charlottesville has severed ties

In the wake of Trump's response to a violent white supremacist rally, "Unite the Right," in Charlottesville, Virginia, last weekend, several business leaders, council members and media personalities severed ties with the president. Quite a lot actually.

View In Gallery

Related Content