Week In a Nutshell, 4/8/22

April 8, 2022 | Updated Feb 22 2023

Senior advisors to President Trump Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump arrive on the South Lawn of the White House. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

By Jake Kaplan

Here are some of the legal news stories making headlines this week:

The January 6th Committee has been very busy recently.

On Tuesday, Ivanka Trump, former President Trump’s oldest daughter and former White House senior adviser, voluntarily testified before the Committee. She reportedly spoke with the Committee for over eight hours, and did not invoke executive privilege or the Fifth Amendment.
Similarly, Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and former White House senior adviser, voluntarily met with the Committee last week. He reportedly spoke with the Committee for over six hours. Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.), a member of the Committee, said that Kushner’s testimony was “really valuable.”
After a long legal battle, the Committee has finally obtained a cache of emails from former Trump lawyer John Eastman. Last week, a federal judge in California ordered Eastman to provide the emails to the Committee after finding that the communications were not protected by the attorney-client privilege because it was “likely” that Trump and Eastman had committed crimes relating to January 6th. Joyce Vance and Dan Goldman discussed the judge’s order on last week’s episode of CAFE Insider.

The Department of Justice is ramping up efforts to combat the Russian attack on Ukraine.

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that DOJ will contribute to international war crimes investigations following the developments from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — specifically, the destruction of Bucha, a suburb of the Ukrainian capital city, Kyiv.
At a press conference, Garland said, “The world sees what is happening in Ukraine. The Justice Department sees what is happening in Ukraine. This Department has a long history of helping to hold accountable those who perpetrate war crimes…Today, we are assisting international efforts to identify and hold accountable those responsible for atrocities in Ukraine. And we will continue to do so.”
Garland also announced the indictment of a Russian oligarch for violating sanctions that the United States imposed on Russia. According to the indictment, Konstantin Malofeyev sponsored pro-Russia media outlets in Europe, and he allegedly sought to evade the sanctions by attempting to transfer millions of dollars that he invested in an American bank.