Report: Trump Lawyers Wanted Kushner Out Over Russia Investigation

Members of President Donald Trump’s legal team wanted Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, out of his White House adviser role in June, over concerns about Kushner’s dealings with Russian officials, The Wall Street Journal reports. Those lawyers were reportedly concerned that Kushner would be a liability in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump administration’s alleged ties to Russia, specifically after it was revealed that Kushner failed to mention four meetings with Russian officials on his security-clearance forms. The lawyers also reportedly were worried that Kushner might speak to investigators without a lawyer present and that Kushner would be damaged when news of Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with a Kremlin-connected lawyer inevitably leaked. (The news broke the following month.) Trump’s lawyers reportedly expressed their concerns to the president in June and even had their staff draft a statement in anticipation of Kushner’s departure. But Trump remained unconvinced, reportedly arguing that Kushner had done nothing wrong.