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
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.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
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.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Gaza and Trump have left the Jewish community at war with itself — and me with a bad case of alienation
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Fast Forward Deborah Lipstadt says Trump’s campus antisemitism crackdown has ‘gone way too far’
-
Fast Forward 5 Jewish senators accuse Trump of using antisemitism as ‘guise’ to attack universities
-
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.