Trump, Ivanka, Jared Kushner Sued For Not Keeping Notes In Meetings With Putin, Kim Jong-Un And Others
Donald Trump and Jared Kushner. Image by Getty
By Ari Feldman May 9, 2019
A nonprofit watchdog group is suing Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner for not keeping records of their dealings with leaders of several countries, including Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Courthouse News reported.
The Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a federal complaint against Trump, Kushner and other senior administration aides. The complaint also alleges that the administration failed to properly classify certain State Department records. The group says that the actions violate the Presidential Records Act and the Federal Records Act, and hamper the U.S.’s ability to “effectively conduct foreign policy.”
Among the allegations are that no notes exist from Trump’s five meetings with Putin, and that Kushner has communicated with the Saudi prince Mohamed bin Salman via WhatsApp, the encrypted messaging app, from which no official records have been preserved. The suit also states that Trump had a one-on-one meeting with Kim Jong-un during their recent summit meeting, where only two interpreters were present and no notes taken.
“Similarly, White House advisor Ivanka Trump also reportedly conducts official White House business through a personal email account as did former deputy national security adviser K.T. McFarland when communicating about the transfer of ‘sensitive U.S. nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia,’” a CREW attorney wrote.
The suit states that the use of encrypted messaging apps impeded Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
The Mueller report also quotes Trump as saying, “Lawyers don’t take notes. I never had a lawyer who took notes,” to White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn.
Ari Feldman is a staff writer at the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @aefeldman
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Dive In
-
Fast Forward As Netanyahu arrives in Budapest, Hungary announces exit from International Criminal Court
-
Fast Forward Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ includes 17% tariffs on Israeli imports, even as Israel cancels tariffs on US goods
-
Fast Forward Hillel CEO says he shares ‘concerns’ over campus deportations, calls for due process
-
Fast Forward Jewish Princeton student accused of assault at protest last year is found not guilty
Most Popular
- 1
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 2
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 3
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 4
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture In a time of tariffs and uncertainty, this is the Jewish word we need to soothe our minds and souls
-
Opinion As Zionist Jews, we must condemn Trump’s campaign to deport students
-
Opinion Trump is cracking down on universities — just like Hitler targeted academics who didn’t bow to his will
-
Fast Forward As Netanyahu arrives in Budapest, Hungary announces exit from International Criminal Court
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.