WASHINGTON—White House Counsel Don McGahn this summer was so frustrated about the lack of protocols surrounding meetings between President Donald Trump and Jared Kushner, his son-in-law whose activities are under scrutiny in the Russia probe, that West Wing officials expressed concerns the top lawyer would quit, according to people familiar with the conversations.

Mr. McGahn expressed concern that meetings between Mr. Kushner and Mr. Trump could be construed by investigators as an effort to coordinate their stories, three people familiar the matter said.

Two senior White House officials—then-Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and former chief strategist Steve Bannon—urged Mr. McGahn not to resign, according to people familiar with the conversations. One person characterized Mr. McGahn’s frustration as, “Fine, you’re not taking my advice? Why stay?”

Mr. McGahn stayed in the job, reassured in part by the White House’s hiring of a legal team specifically to manage the response to the probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Attorney Ty Cobb was hired to lead that group.

A White House official said Mr. McGahn “did not consider resigning, and he was not concerned about any one individual. He was focused on implementing the proper processes and structures to protect the White House and its staff, including Jared.”


Mr. McGahn’s concerns from earlier in the summer illustrate the disruption and tension that special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe is causing in the West Wing and how the White House’s legal strategy has evolved to respond to the probe.

Mr. Mueller is examining U.S. intelligence agencies’ findings of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and whether Trump associates colluded in that effort. Mr. Trump has called the probe a “witch hunt,” and both he and Mr. Kushner have said they didn’t collude with Russia. Moscow has denied meddling in the election.

Some members of Mr. Trump’s legal team in June concluded Mr. Kushner should step down and aired their concerns to the president, The Wall Street Journal has reported. Their concern was that if Mr. Kushner were to speak to the president or White House colleagues about the Russia investigation, Mr. Mueller could seek testimony about what was said.

Mr. Kushner’s role has caused particular concern among some White House officials as federal investigators examine meetings he held with Russian officials and businesspeople during the campaign and transition, said people familiar with the matter.


Federal investigators are examining a meeting during the transition that included Mr. Kushner and the Russian ambassador to the U.S., and another one that he held with the head of a Russian-run bank that has faced U.S. sanctions. Mr. Mueller is also probing a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer tied to the Kremlin, which was attended by Mr. Kushner and other campaign aides, including the president’s eldest son, according to people familiar with the matter.

Mr. Kushner has also been criticized by government ethics officials, lawmakers and members of the president’s legal team for initially omitting what he said were more than 100 contacts with foreign officials from a form required to obtain a security clearance. Mr. Kushner has said it was an administrative error.

The fallout from the probe continues to reverberate in the White House. Mr. Trump has also spoken to aides about his concern about the effect the continuing investigation is having on Mr. Kushner; Mr. Trump’s questions about Mr. Kushner spring partly from family considerations, said people familiar with the conversations.

Before taking office, Mr. Trump had urged Mr. Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, to remain in New York rather than join him in Washington. Inside the White House, he regularly repeats his view that following him put their reputations at risk, those officials said.


A person close to Mr. Trump said that “as a father, the president feels protective over his kids when they are constantly under attack, but is grateful for their continued contributions towards his agenda.”

Newly installed Chief of Staff John Kelly has tightened access to the president, requiring aides, including Mr. Kushner, to schedule appointments in order to meet with Mr. Trump. On his first day on the job, Mr. Kelly told staff that the only exceptions to the scheduling system were Mr. Trump’s family, including Ms. Trump, if she was visiting him “as a daughter” and not in her official role as White House adviser.

At the same time, he directed Mr. Kushner and Ms. Trump to report to him—instead of to the president—in their official capacities. Mr. Kelly has also pleased some in the White House, including Mr. McGahn, by creating clearer divisions of labor among the staff, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Mr. McGahn and some other lawyers wanted a large law firm to manage the response to the probe. They advocated using Jones Day—the law firm where Mr. McGahn worked prior to entering the administration—to play an expanded role in the matter. Mr. Trump opted to keep Jones Day largely focused on representing his campaign.


Mr. McGahn still harbors some concerns about a lack of White House resources available to Mr. Cobb. One person familiar with the team’s operations expressed similar concerns, comparing Mr. Mueller’s team of prosecutors to a “killing machine,” while Mr. Cobb is armed with little more than an “accordion folder” filled with legal pads and post-it notes.

A White House official defended Mr. Cobb, saying he had not been given the resources he needed at the outset.

A veteran of the previous Republican administration said the White House typically seeks to wall off individuals involved in continuing investigations.

“Whenever you have someone who is under investigation, and that individual is having conversations with the president on a wide variety of things that may not relate to the investigation—nonetheless, it creates perception problems,” said Alberto Gonzales, who served as White House counsel and later attorney general under former Republican President George W. Bush. “Someone may slip up and say something that relates to the investigation. You really want to minimize direct contact between someone that’s involved in an investigation and the president of the United States.”

Mr. McGahn, one of Mr. Trump’s closest confidants dating back to the campaign, has on multiple occasions had heated conversations with the president in the Oval Office, according to people familiar with the matter.

Mr. Kushner, who holds an elite perch as a top adviser working a few paces from the Oval Office, continues to oversee a sweeping policy portfolio that includes Middle East peace and government efficiencies.

On Thursday, after news reports that Mr. Kushner had used a personal email account to conduct official business, the Senate Intelligence Committee sent a letter to Mr. Kushner’s lawyer saying it was “concerned” that Mr. Kushner had omitted any mention of the account during his interview with committee staff, and asked him to ensure that he had reviewed those emails for any documents relating to the Russia inquiry.

His lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said they had reviewed the personal account and said, “There is no issue here.”

—Brody Mullins contributed to this article.

Write to Peter Nicholas at peter.nicholas@wsj.com, Michael C. Bender at Mike.Bender@wsj.com and Rebecca Ballhaus at Rebecca.Ballhaus@wsj.com