Donald Trump's ex-personal attorney Michael Cohen suggested Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump may be FBI informants working against the former president.
Ivanka, the former president's daughter, distanced herself from her father's newly announced presidential campaign this week, saying she will support Trump "outside of the political arena," but will no longer be involved in politics. She is one of several high-profile Republicans to shift away from Trump's campaign following an underwhelming midterm for the GOP, which saw them fail to capture control of the Senate and only a slim victory in the House of Representatives.
Cohen, during an appearance on MSNBC's The Katie Phang Show on Saturday morning, said Ivanka and Kushner may have been the informants who tipped off the FBI that Trump was keeping classified documents at his Florida Mar-a-Lago residency.
Cohen offered his explanation as to why the couple will not be returning to the campaign, saying they already "got everything" they wanted from working in politics. He pointed to Trump's pardoning of Kushner's father and the more than $640 million the couple made during the time they worked inside the White House.
Still, he added one other potential reason why they may not be returning to the Trump campaign.
"I believe Jared and Ivanka potentially were the moles in terms of the Mar-a-Lago documents and so on," he said. "And it would be very interesting to have, let's say, the son-in-law, the daughter who are FBI informants—DOJ informants—acting as senior members of a campaign or an administration if he should somehow manage to slide back in."
FBI agents raided Trump's Mar-a-Lago residency on August 8 and seized boxes allegedly containing classified documents. The Department of Justice (DOJ) is now investigating whether these documents were being improperly kept at Mar-a-Lago. Trump has maintained his innocence, saying he could declassify the documents "even by thinking about it."
Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday appointed Jack Smith to be the special counsel overseeing the classified documents case, as well as the investigation into Trump's role in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Cohen is not the first individual to suggest Kushner and Ivanka could have been working with the FBI. Mary Trump, the former president's niece, speculated in August they could have been the confidential source who tipped off the FBI.
"I think we need to look very hard at why Jared got $2 billion. We need to look very hard at why he has been so quiet for so many months now. And we need to think about who, if it, who could also be implicated in this that would need as big a play as turning Donald in, in order to get out of trouble, or at least to mitigate the trouble they're in," she said during an interview with The Dean Obeidallah Show.
Newsweek reached out to Trump's office for comment.
TheBirdBytheWindow on November 19th, 2022 at 22:58 UTC »
The great thing about allegations like this is that even if this isn't true, Trump would have this read aloud to him and it would plant a seed.
And that seed would sprout doubt and mistrust; and we all know how he insists on absolute loyalty. Having Ivanka turn federal witness against her father would destroy him and he'd eat himself alive. Even if he were to only think it.
He'll go from 5 hours of sleep a night to 2.5. Somebody call Dr. Adderall. DJ's got paranoia to get to.
e-r_bridge on November 19th, 2022 at 22:57 UTC »
I heard John Barron was the informant.
Kevundoe on November 19th, 2022 at 22:55 UTC »
Can they be informant against themselves?