Category: Legal / Political Advocacy
Role: Chief Counsel, American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ); personal attorney to President Trump (Russia probe, 2017–2018; first impeachment, 2019–2020); radio host; television commentator; former tax attorney
Priority: P2 — Sekulow was Trump’s most visible legal spokesperson during the Russia investigation and served as an impeachment lawyer, while simultaneously presiding over financial arrangements at his family-controlled charitable organizations that drew federal and journalistic scrutiny. His organization funded a Russia-linked activist connected to the Putin regime.

Background

Jay Alan Sekulow is an American attorney, radio host, and the long-serving Chief Counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) — a conservative Christian nonprofit law organization founded in 1990. Sekulow built the ACLJ into one of the most prominent religious liberty litigation organizations in the United States, arguing more than a dozen cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, primarily in First Amendment and religious liberty matters. (Ballotpedia; TIME)

He hosts the nationally syndicated radio program “Jay Sekulow Live!” and was a well-known conservative legal commentator on television before he joined Trump’s legal team. He also previously served as an outside adviser to President George W. Bush on judicial nominations. (TIME)

His legal expertise is in constitutional law and First Amendment cases — not white-collar criminal defense or the kind of complex federal criminal exposure Trump faced during the Russia investigation. This mismatch between his training and the task became a recurring theme in coverage of his representation of Trump. (TIME)

Joining Trump’s Legal Team: Russia Investigation (Summer 2017)

In summer 2017, Sekulow joined President Trump’s personal legal team to represent him during the special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and potential obstruction of justice.

Trump retained Sekulow after his lead counsel John Dowd resigned — leaving Trump without experienced criminal defense counsel at a critical juncture in the investigation. Sekulow had no white-collar criminal defense background. His value to Trump was not as a criminal defense specialist but as a communications strategist and public advocate who could defend Trump on television. (TIME)

What Sekulow Did in the Russia Investigation

Public messaging: Sekulow was a constant presence on television defending Trump during the Mueller investigation, often appearing on Fox News and other networks to advance the “no collusion” narrative and characterize the investigation as a witch hunt.

Obstruction allegations: Sekulow was reportedly involved in drafting Trump’s initial public statement about the Trump Tower meeting (the June 2016 meeting between senior Trump campaign officials and Russians promising political opposition research). That statement was characterized by Trump critics as misleading and potentially part of the obstruction of justice pattern Mueller investigated. (TIME)

Negotiating with Mueller’s team: Sekulow was involved in discussions with Mueller’s prosecutors about whether Trump would agree to an interview — ultimately helping navigate toward a written questions-and-answers format rather than a live deposition.

First Impeachment Defense (2019–2020)

Sekulow served as one of Trump’s attorneys in the first Senate impeachment trial in January 2020. The trial concerned Trump’s withholding of congressionally appropriated military aid to Ukraine in exchange for an announcement of investigations into Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

The Senate ultimately voted 52–48 to acquit on the abuse of power charge and 53–47 to acquit on the obstruction of Congress charge — party-line votes in which no Republican senator voted to convict.

Sekulow appeared in Senate proceedings as a spokesperson for the defense, arguing that the articles of impeachment were constitutionally insufficient and that Trump’s conduct with Ukraine did not rise to an impeachable offense.

Financial Controversies: The Charity Network

How the Sekulow Family Charities Work

The ACLJ relies almost entirely on a companion organization — Christian Advocates Serving Evangelism (CASE) — for its operating budget. CASE is controlled by Sekulow and his family. CASE raises money from small donors (often through aggressive telemarketing) and channels most of it to the ACLJ.

An investigation published by The Washington Post in 2017 documented that CASE had steered more than $60 million to Sekulow and his family since 2000. This included:

• Sekulow’s own salary payments
• Payments to family members who held positions in CASE or the ACLJ
• Arrangements in which Sekulow and his relatives effectively controlled both organizations — the fundraising entity and the expenditure entity (Washington Post, June 27, 2017)

The Washington Post reported that telemarketers were instructed to urge people who identified themselves as in poverty or unemployed to make “sacrificial gifts” to the ACLJ — a fundraising tactic that drew criticism as targeting vulnerable donors. (MSNBC; Washington Post)

The organizations are registered nonprofit entities, and Sekulow has denied wrongdoing. The IRS, not courts, oversees nonprofit financial compliance, and no formal enforcement action was publicly reported.

ACLJ and a Putin-Linked Russian Activist

An investigation published by Mother Jones in October 2020 found that between 2008 and 2020, the ACLJ provided $3.3 million in funding to the Slavic Center for Law and Justice (SCLJ) based in Moscow.

The SCLJ is directed by Vladimir Ryakhovsky, who sits on Vladimir Putin’s presidential human rights council — an advisory body that operates under the Kremlin. (Mother Jones, October 2020)

The funding was framed as supporting religious liberty work in Russia. Critics raised concerns that an organization led by Trump’s personal attorney was channeling significant funds to an entity led by a member of Putin’s government — even as the Russia investigation was ongoing.

Sekulow denied any impropriety, noting that the SCLJ’s work focused on religious freedom advocacy in Russia.

Accountability Assessment

Why This Matters for Democratic Accountability

Sekulow’s significance is not primarily as a legal actor but as a financial and institutional one:

• He runs a major conservative legal organization that has argued landmark Supreme Court cases and will continue to shape constitutional law
• His organization’s financial arrangements — self-dealing through family-controlled entities — represent a model of how political influence and nonprofit status can intersect in ways that benefit insiders
• His organization’s funding of a Putin-connected Russian activist while he was simultaneously Trump’s Russia probe attorney presents at minimum an appearance problem that has never been fully examined

The intersection of nonprofit fundraising, personal enrichment, and political legal advocacy — without clear institutional boundaries — is a structural accountability gap.

Why Trump Supporters Should Care

If you donate to the ACLJ, you should know that a Washington Post investigation found that more than $60 million has gone to Sekulow and his family through the organization’s structure. Telemarketers were reportedly told to push donors who described themselves as poor or unemployed to make “sacrificial gifts.” Whether or not this is illegal, it raises questions about whether your donation is funding legal advocacy or the Sekulow family.

If you care about Russian influence, Sekulow’s ACLJ sent $3.3 million to an organization run by a member of Vladimir Putin’s presidential council — while he was simultaneously representing Trump in the Russia investigation. That is a fact, not an allegation.

If you want attorneys who tell the truth, consider that Sekulow is a radio host and televised legal commentator whose primary value to Trump was his media presence, not his criminal defense expertise. He was a communications professional more than a legal technician on the cases that mattered most.

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Sources

• Washington Post, “Trump attorney Jay Sekulow’s family has been paid millions from charities they control” (June 27, 2017)
• TIME, “How Jay Sekulow Became Trump’s Top Lawyer on Russia Probe” (2018)
• MSNBC, “A Trump lawyer’s fundraising efforts generate new scrutiny” (2017)
• Mother Jones, “How a Right-Wing Group Led by a Trump Lawyer Is Funding a Russian Activist Tied to the Putin Regime” (October 2020)
• Ballotpedia, “Jay Sekulow” (accessed May 2026)
• Senate Impeachment Trial Record, January 2020