Top White House adviser Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, has added another big name to his legal team in the Russian election hacking probe, hiring Abbe Lowell, the veteran Washington lawyer who has taken on some of the capital’s most notable ethics cases, including those of former vice presidential nominee John Edwards and lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Mr. Lowell, considered one of America’s leading criminal defense lawyers, will represent Mr. Kushner in the special counsel’s probe of Russian issues, a White House official confirmed. The chair of Chadbourne & Parke LLP’s white-collar defense, regulatory investigations and litigation group, Mr. Lowell also served as chief counsel to House Democrats during the Clinton impeachment proceedings in the late 1990s.
Mr. Kushner will also retain his current lawyer Jamie Gorelick, also a partner at WilmerHale who served in the Clinton administration Justice Department, a spokesman said. Former FBI Director Robert Mueller, named as the Justice Department’s special counsel into the Russian hacking scandal and the role of Mr. Kushner and other Trump associates, also was a partner at the same law firm, but Ms.Gorelick brushed aside questions over the ties to the same law firm.
“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,” Ms. Gorelick said. “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.”
Multiple Russia-related probes are investigating Mr. Kushner’s real estate business dealings, including meetings with the Russian ambassador and the top executive as a Russian state-owned bank during the presidential transition.
In other Russia inquiry developments, Trump campaign adviser Carter Page has reportedly been questioned by the FBI on multiple occasions as part of its investigation into Russia issues.
According to the Washington Post, Mr. Page was questioned five times in March during meetings that totaled 10 hours — “the most extensive known questioning of a potential suspect” in the agency’s Russia investigation — the report added. The FBI was exploring potential links between Mr. Trump’s campaign and the Kremlin before Mr. Mueller was named special counsel last month. In April it was reported that FBI had obtained a warrant under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to monitor Mr. Page.
Mr. Page has vigorously denied charges that during the presidential election he improperly communicated with Russian officials
Mr. Page told the paper that his “frank and open conversations” with the FBI gave him confidence “that there are still logical, honest individuals at the Bureau who respect civil rights and the Constitution.’’
• Dan Boylan can be reached at dboylan@washingtontimes.com.
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