Kushner to cooperate with Judiciary document requests

White House adviser Jared Kushner has indicated through his counsel that he will provide documents to the House Judiciary Committee as part of the panel’s sprawling inquiry into the Trump administration, campaign and businesses through his attorney, a committee source tells The Hill.

Kushner attorney Abbe Lowell has indicated to the panel that he and his client will provide documents as part of the panel’s first wave of documents requests, the source says. It’s unclear how extensive the documents provided by Kushner will be. 

Lowell and his spokesman did not respond to multiple requests for comment about such plans.

{mosads}House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) issued a sweeping documents request earlier this month that asked 81 individuals and entities to turn over records related to the panel’s investigation of possible corruption, obstruction of justice and ethics violations within the administration.

Days after Nadler’s request, Trump initially suggested he would be unwilling to comply with the document requests, citing what he said was former President Obama’s handling of congressional probes during his time in office.

“They didn’t give one letter. They didn’t do anything. They didn’t give one letter of the requests,” he said.

He also called it a disgrace and said it was the beginning of the presidential campaign.

The sweeping requests from Judicary include information related to the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting in which Kushner, Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr., then-campaign manager Paul Manafort and others met with a Kremlin-linked lawyer who they believed had dirt on Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. 

Kushner has also been asked to turn over any records related to the Trump Organization’s discussions to build a Trump Tower in Moscow during the 2016 election, the publishing of hacked Democratic emails by WikiLeaks, hush money payments made to women alleging affairs with the president, contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia as well as events that unfolded within the administration, like the firing of former FBI Director James Comey.

Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, is one of several members of Trump’s family who have been asked for documents. Democrats have also asked for documents from Trump Jr. and the president’s other son, Eric Trump. Democrats did not specifically ask for documents from Kushner’s wife, Ivanka Trump, although they did ask for information related to her.

The panel is also asking Kushner to shed light on internal administration matters like Trump’s contacts with his former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker regarding topics like special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, as well as the Southern District of New York (SDNY), which is probing the hush money payments.

Democrats have voiced concern that the president installed Whitaker, who was seen as a Trump loyalist, in order to hinder or end Mueller’s investigation. Whitaker vacated the position earlier this year after Attorney General William Barr was confirmed.

The president’s son-in-law is also asked to provide documents that may discuss possible pardons for Manafort, former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn or former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.