First son-in-law Jared Kushner is rumored to be seeking a change in his legal defense team as the ongoing investigation into the alleged Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, slowly trudges on. Although recent testimony, by the unceremoniously ousted G-man, James Comey, confirmed that President Trump was not personally under investigation, a dark cloud of questions has continued to dog team Trump, frustrating the administration, and much of America.
The New York Times reports that criminal lawyers have been sought out by Kushner’s representatives, “according to three people briefed on the matter” and, that their sources would only divulge their secrets under the promise of anonymity. (Can we please get the NYT actually to name a source?) Kushner has not confirmed or denied the rumor but has been quick to praise his counsel, Jamie S. Gorelick, and her legal team.
Eyebrows should be raised, and legal teams reconsidered as Ms. Gorelick and Special Counsel Robert Mueller, are former law partners at the Washington D.C. firm WilmerHale. This family tree of special investigations into Russia is beginning to resemble more of a telephone pole, no branches, just the same swamp DNA — layer upon layer. We already know Comey and Mueller have been attached at the hip since 9/11, famously standing stalwart against the G.W. Bush administration in the name of justice, mismanaging cases together, and acting as the strong arm of then Attorney General Loretta Lynch, doing her Clinton bidding. Maybe adding new blood to Kushner’s team is warranted:
“After the appointment of our former partner Robert Mueller as special counsel, we advised Mr. Kushner to obtain the independent advice of a lawyer with appropriate experience as to whether he should continue with us as his counsel,” Gorelick said.
The Kushner people began nosing around last month into criminal trial attorneys, “according to the people briefed on the matter” and several names have been whispered in the inner circles of the Trump administration:
Among the lawyers contacted, one person said, was Abbe D. Lowell, a prominent trial lawyer whose previous clients include Jack Abramoff, the powerful Republican lobbyist, in a corruption scandal that shook Washington in 2005. Mr. Lowell is currently defending Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, against federal corruption charges.
With his father-in-law seemingly out of the investigation into the nefarious, although only alleged back channels and direct red phone line to Putin, scrutiny on Mr. Kushner is ramping up, increasing the pressure on an administration already under vicious attack. Perhaps he should heed the advice of Ms. Gorelick, and clean his slate of the incestuous D.C. elite legal toadies, and opt for a shark out of clearer waters, with no obvious political indebtedness or agenda.
Just sayin’.
