Abbe Lowell, the high-powered attorney who kept Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump out of legal trouble, is now warning that the U.S. legal system could collapse under Donald Trump’s second presidency.
Lowell, who served as legal counsel to the president’s daughter and son-in-law during the Mueller investigation, is sounding the alarm on what he sees as a dangerous shift inside Trump’s White House.
“I have never been as concerned as to whether our system can withstand the pressure it is being put to,” Lowell told the Financial Times.
Now serving as president for a second, non-consecutive term, Trump is flexing executive power in ways that Lowell says could permanently damage the separation of powers—especially the independence of the courts.
“The White House is pushing the tree to the point that it could break,” Lowell warned. During Trump’s first term, critics said democracy was “tested but didn’t break.” But Lowell now fears that the pressure is mounting past the breaking point.
In the late ‘90s, Lowell warned Congress that “the crack you put in the wall today becomes the gash tomorrow.” Speaking to FT, he said that prediction has come true. The system, he says, is “more than cracked, not yet crumbled.”
Lowell, 73, isn’t just watching this unfold—he’s taking action, noted The Daily Beast. He’s launched a new law firm, Lowell & Associates, aimed directly at pushing back against what he calls “government over-reach.”
He says at least nine major law firms have “buckled” under Trump-era pressure, accepting nearly $1 billion in legal work while silencing dissent inside their own ranks. Some attorneys who refused to go along have already joined Lowell’s new operation.
Among his current clients: New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is now under federal investigation after winning a massive civil fraud case against Trump, and former Department of Homeland Security official Miles Taylor, who lost his security clearance after criticizing the president.
Lowell is preparing to take on a wave of executive actions targeting universities, nonprofits, and even the judiciary. But he warns that the legal path forward won’t be easy.
“I don’t know the administration has the ability, breadth, depth and expertise to handle all” the legal fallout, Lowell said.
Even so, with a Supreme Court that favors broad executive power, Lowell says legal challengers will need to base their cases on First Amendment rights—rather than trying to argue limits on presidential authority.
Because if the courts lose their ability to act independently, Lowell says, the damage could be lasting.
“There will just be rubble from that wall,” he warned.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
