President
Donald Trump's son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, has hired a prominent
trial lawyer to help represent him in inquiries linked to Russia, the New
York
Times reported on Monday citing another member of his legal team.
Kushner took
on Abbe D. Lowell, the newspaper said, joining other senior administration
figures including U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Vice President Mike
Pence and Trump himself in hiring private attorneys.
The White
House has come under increased scrutiny since Department of Justice Special
Counsel Robert Mueller and a number of congressional committees launched
investigations into whether there were ties between Russia and Trump's 2016
election campaign team.
Trump and
his key aides have repeatedly denied any collusion with Moscow.
Mueller is
examining Kushner’s meetings with the Russian ambassador and a Russian banker
as part of a broad enquiry, the New York Times said. But there are no signs
that Kushner is the target of an investigation and Kushner has promised to
cooperate, the newspaper added.
The
36-year-old Kushner, a real estate developer with no previous government
experience, had at least three previously undisclosed contacts with the Russian
ambassador to the United States during and after the 2016 presidential campaign,
seven current and former U.S. officials told Reuters in May.
When Mueller
became special counsel in May, he left a job at WilmerHale, a legal firm that
also employs another lawyer for Kushner, Jamie Gorelick.
"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," Gorelick said in a statement
to the Times.
"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,"
she said.
Trump on
Monday demanded that investigators apologize for looking into Russian
interference and possible collusion with his election campaign, accusing
predecessor President Barack Obama of having "colluded or
obstructed," but he did not provide evidence.
Russia has
said it did not interfere in the vote.
Reuters*
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