4 Things About Jamie Gorelick, the Die-Hard Clintonista Who’s Jared Kushner’s Ethics Lawyer

Image by Getty Images
Attorney Jamie Gorelick, who served as deputy attorney general under former President Bill Clinton, is representing Jared Kushner as he enters the White House as senior advisor to his father-in-law, President-elect Donald Trump.
Gorelick’s job representing Kushner is about as unconventional as her client’s new role — the WilmerHale partner was a significant contributor to Hillary Clinton’s presidential and senate campaigns.
Here are four facts about this unexpected ally.
- New Yorker, Born and Raised
Gorelick is originally from Great Neck, a Long Island suburb of New York City, where she grew up in a Jewish family. She earned her undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard University.
- Staunch Hillary Ally and Rumored Attorney General
Gorelick’s name was high on the list of potential attorneys general for a Hillary Clinton administration, a reflection of years of loyalty. Before the election, Gorelick lead the charge against FBI director James Comey for relaunching an investigation against the candidate’s private email server. And she defended the Clinton Foundation in a suit brought against it several few years ago.
- Cashed In at Fannie Mae
After leaving the Clinton White House, Gorelick was hired as Vice Chairman of Fannie Mae, where she earned more than $20 million. Some conservatives blame the semi-public mortgage for the financial crisis. During Gorelick’s tenure, Fannie Mae was found to have more than $9 billion in accounting irregularities.
- History of Unpopular Clients
Gorelick has not shied away from controversial clients. She was top legal council for British Petroleum after the company poisoned the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 with Deepwater Horizon oil spill. More than a decade ago she defended Duke University in a lawsuit over a lacrosse team rape scandal. So representing Jared Kushner may seem to be an abrupt turn, but Gorelick has actually been an iconoclast for years.
Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon
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!
Most Popular
- 1
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 2
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 3
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 4
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Naftali Bennett is back: Former Israeli prime minister will make another run at Netanyahu
-
Fast Forward Citing post-Holocaust doctrine, Germany seeks to deport 4 pro-Palestinian protesters, including one American
-
Fast Forward Trump administration freezes research funding to Princeton amid antisemitism investigations
-
Fast Forward ‘Another Jewish warrior’: Fine wins special election for U.S. House seat
-
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.