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In a shocking morning revelation, we learned that lawyers who knew what the hell they were doing may have once snuck into the White House without Donald Trump's knowledge.
A small group of White House lawyers this summer urged that President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner step down from his White House role amid a broadening probe into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russians in the 2016 election, according to multiple people familiar with the discussion. [...]
The debate, first reported Monday night by the Wall Street Journal, took place before a July shake-up of the legal team. The idea to press Kushner to leave was ultimately rejected.
This was after lawyers found out about the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Kushner, Don Jr., and a Russian team dispatched as “part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump.”
Apparently attending a meeting with the sole purpose of injecting Russian assistance into the presidential campaign was seen as Not Good by the lawyers seeking Kushner’s removal, because evidently at some point a few individuals with two working neurons managed to sneak past Trump's crack hiring team. We can presume from the "took place before a July shake-up of the legal team" that this has now been remedied.
The idea of booting Boy Wonder from the White House, of course, didn't go far. It couldn't. Son-in-law Jared and daughter Ivanka are Trump's only trusted handlers, and the only people in the building he appears to truly need by his side. Donald Jr. is dispensable; Kushner is, apparently, not. And while we could make many, many snide comments about that, let's instead focus on how Trump's insistence on running the country like a fiefdom is truly boning everyone who works alongside him.
Those lawyers didn't just want Kushner out for appearances: they wanted him out because his position at dead-center in the Russia probe is an ongoing liability to everyone else working in the building.
If, for example, Mr. Kushner mentioned the probe—even casually in a meeting—aides who heard his remarks could face inquiries from Mr. Mueller’s agents. Some lawyers were also concerned that Mr. Kushner might discuss the probe with the president without a lawyer present.
Ya think?
Fans of gilded incompetence need not worry, however; the nation is apparently stuck with Jared for the duration. He will continue to blandly deliver Wikipedia-cribbed book reports on How To Middle East Peace, or How To Not Opioids, or How To Technology Do-Gooder, or whatever the hell other issue Donald has parachuted him into in an attempt to look like he gives a damn about this or that subject without actually having to read more than an index card's worth of material on it.
Still, though. Pretty remarkable to hear the White House still had a few competent lawyers in it, before last July.