Abbe Lowell’s decision to represent the Trump family in 2017 raised eyebrows among his colleagues and friends in the Democratic Party. Known for his alignment with Democrat politics, Lowell took on the daunting task of defending Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner amid mounting allegations concerning the Trump family’s links to Russia.
As Robert Mueller, the former FBI director, was preparing his Russia Report, the biggest political scandal of Donald Trump’s presidency, many around the then-president began to lawyer up. For Ivanka Trump and her husband, Lowell’s intimate knowledge of Washington, Democrat politics, and the Department of Justice made him the ideal consultant.
Lowell’s legal career is distinguished by his defense of high-profile political figures accused of significant crimes. His clients have included House Democrats during Bill Clinton’s impeachment over the Monica Lewinsky affair, scandal-hit Senator Bob Menendez, and Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, a State Department contractor who leaked information about a North Korean missile test. Despite his strong ties to the Democratic Party, Lowell’s decision to work for the Trump family was surprising to some of his colleagues in Congress.
After graduating from Columbia Law School in 1977, Lowell moved to Washington and worked as a special assistant to the attorney general in Jimmy Carter’s administration. In 1982, he ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat in Maryland state elections. By 1998, Lowell had become deeply entrenched in Democratic politics, serving as chief minority counsel to House Democrats during Clinton’s impeachment. His extensive experience in political and legal battles eventually led him to the Trump White House, where he provided ethics advice to Ivanka Trump and represented Jared Kushner during a congressional probe into his use of WhatsApp to communicate with foreign leaders.
Following Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory, Lowell returned to the orbit of the White House. Recommended by Hunter Biden’s advisers for his ability to “respond in kind” to Republican attacks, he was enlisted to defend the president’s son in what has become one of the most significant legal battles of the 2024 election campaign. Hunter Biden faces allegations of lying on a federal gun control form and tax evasion, charges initially subject to a plea deal that collapsed in July 2023. With Lowell by his side, Hunter Biden is now at the center of a highly charged trial.
This week, Lowell will defend Hunter Biden as prosecutors present evidence of his alleged crack cocaine usage at the time he purchased a gun in October 2018. The federal prosecution team, led by David Weiss, has released text messages in which Hunter Biden refers to “smoking crack” and an excerpt from his book where he discusses drug procurement as his “superpower.” Lowell’s defense strategy will argue that Hunter Biden has been unfairly targeted by the Department of Justice due to his high-profile family. In December 2023, after Hunter was indicted in the tax case, Lowell stated, “If Hunter’s last name was anything other than Biden, the charges in Delaware, and now California, would not have been brought.”
