John,
Recently, we won a victory that might just be the key to understanding what exactly Jared Kushner was up to in the White House for four years.
Remember Kushner’s habit of using WhatsApp to conduct official White House business? We sent him a letter back in October warning him that his routine use of WhatsApp without maintaining complete records could violate the Presidential Records Act, and we sued to ensure compliance with the law.
Well, we recently learned through our lawsuit that Kushner—and other White House staff—handed over their complete WhatsApp messages to the National Archives and Records Administration before leaving the White House. This is a big win for transparency—preserving these records is essential to getting the full story about the Trump administration and their corruption, conflicts of interest and abuses of power. And although the law doesn’t allow the public to access these records for years, Congress can—and should—seek them now.
And that wasn’t the only good news. Following a CREW lawsuit that challenged the Trump-era policy of allowing records to be preserved via screenshot, the Biden White House has revoked it and replaced it with a policy that complies with the requirements of the Presidential Records Act. For more, read CREW’s release about these wins for transparency.
Allowing records to be destroyed, lost or hidden means important questions can go unanswered. Questions like: who did Kushner communicate with about the COVID response? Was he conducting international diplomacy through messaging apps? Are there messages showing how Kushner reportedly led the Trump campaign from the White House? What about the hundreds of millions of dollars he and Ivanka Trump earned during their time in the White House—are there messages that shed light on how his role and personal profits may have overlapped? Now that Kushner’s records are preserved, the American people have a real chance at getting answers. We’re taking that as a huge win.
Thank you,
Noah Bookbinder
President, CREW
