INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Jared Kushner Hires Powerful Criminal Defense Lawyer Amid Russian Investigation

By Heather Tooley
Published on: 06:00 PST, Jun 27, 2017

Jared Kushner has hired Abbe Lowell, a powerful criminal defense attorney, amid the Russian investigation in Washington, D.C., Politico reports. President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser has retained the lawyer to represent him in the probe of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Kushner’s business dealings are of profound interest in the special counsel’s investigation.

Jamie Gorelick is also on Jared Kushner’s legal team. In a statement on Monday, the attorney, who’s a partner at WilmerHale where Special Counsel Bob Mueller also formerly worked, confirmed that her client had hired Lowell.

“When Bob Mueller left WilmerHale to become Special Counsel and three of our colleagues joined him, we asked Mr. Kushner to get independent legal advice on whether to continue with us as his counsel. He engaged Abbe Lowell to advise him and then decided to add Mr. Lowell to the team representing him in the various inquiries into the Russia matter.”

Time reports that Abbe Lowell has worked on high-profile cases in Washington, including serving as the chief minority counsel to the Democrats during former President Bill Clinton’s impeachment case. Moreover, he’s represented a roster of other big-name politicians, including Sens. Robert Torricelli and John Edwards, and international companies such as Goldman Sachs. Lowell is representing New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, who’s been accused of corruption.

Jared Kushner says his legal team will cooperate with any investigation the special counsel is conducting.

Kushner himself isn’t under investigation, but his business dealings are. It was revealed on Sunday that his company received a $285 million bank loan from Deutsche Bank in Germany, a financial institution tied to the Russian investigation. The loan went through during the campaign and not when Trump was sworn into office. Disclosure statements to the Office of Government Ethics showed that Trump had a $130 million debt with Deutsche Bank — evidence that it was one of his main lenders.

Donald Trump’s senior advisor didn’t offer information on the $285 million to the ethics office, however. His attorney defended the lack of disclosure, citing “published guidance” from the ethics office “that filers do not have to disclose as a liability a loan on which they have made a guarantee unless they have a present obligation to repay the loan.”

Jared Kushner did disclose that he and his mother had a personal line of credit up to $25 million from the bank.

[Featured Image by Olivier Douliery/Getty Images]

Share this article: Jared Kushner Hires Powerful Criminal Defense Lawyer Amid Russian Investigation
Donald Trump
More from Inquisitr