- Michael Cohen has a theory about why Ivanka Trump isn't working on her father's 2024 Presidential bid.
- He says he thinks Jared Kushner and Ivanka could have been FBI informants at Mar-a-Lago.
Michael Cohen says former president Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka is exiling herself from politics because she and her husband Jared Kushner may be working with the FBI.
"I believe Jared and Ivanka potentially were the moles in terms of the Mar-a-Lago documents and so on," Cohen, Trump's one-time personal lawyer and fixer, told MSNBC on Saturday.
"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," Cohen said.
—The Katie Phang Show (@katiephangshow) November 19, 2022
This is not the first time that Cohen has suggested that one of Trump's children could be working with the FBI. The Department of Justice is investigating whether Trump broke any of three federal laws — including the Espionage Act — by keeping classified documents at his Florida residence.
In August, Cohen said a possible informant working with the FBI during the agency's raid at Mar-a-Lago is "definitely a member of his inner circle."
"I would not be surprised to find out it is Jared or one of his children," Cohen told Insider.
Cohen was once part of Trump's inner circle. In 2018, he pleaded guilty to felonies including tax evasion, campaign finance violations, and bank fraud. He was sentenced in December 2018 to three years in prison and was disbarred in February 2019 by the New York Supreme Court.
For his part, Kushner has emphatically denied being a DOJ informant.
Ivanka Trump was noticeably absent from her father's 2024 campaign announcement on Tuesday night at Mar-a-Lago. She later released a statement saying she plans to support him "outside the political arena."
"I love my father very much," her statement read. "This time around, I am choosing to prioritize my children and the private life we are creating as a family. I do not plan to be involved in politics."
According to The New York Post, Ivanka's absence from his 2024 announcement came after Trump tried to persuade her and Kushner to show up. Kushner was present at the campaign launch, but not Ivanka.
Both Kushner and Ivanka were top advisers to Trump. However, both have signaled their unwillingness to be involved in further campaigning. In September, Kushner told Sky News that he's "enjoying the private sector" too much to wade back into politics. And in November, unnamed sources told CNN Ivanka is "done" with politics and will never go back to being her father's senior adviser.
Representatives for Kushner and the former president did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. A lawyer for Ivanka Trump also did not immediately return Insider's request for comment.