‘Jared Has Become An Expert On Immigration In the Last 48 hours’: Trump Jabs Kushner Over Shutdown Advice – By Katherine Hignett (Newsweek) / Jan 24 2019
President Donald Trump reportedly mocked senior adviser Jared Kushner after he weighed in on how to end the govenment shutdown—now on its 34th day—during an Oval Office meeting.
“Apparently, Jared has become an expert on immigration in the last 48 hours,” the president said after his son-in-law presented details of potential options for a deal, three unnamed sources privy to the discussion told The Washington Post. One White House official characterized the comment as playful, The Post reported.
The report described Kushner as a key player and constant presence in the White House, bolstered by recent successes such as helping to pass a criminal justice reform bill that received praise from both Democrats and Republicans.
Kushner has allegedly touted his relationship with powerful Democrats he worked with on the bill. But Democratic aides told The Post his prowess among the party is overblown. “He is totally a nonentity,” one aide told the newspaper.
The Post report echoes a recent article in The New York Times, which described growing frustration among aides in the White House since the replacement of Chief of Staff John Kelly, who was reportedly “furious” at Kushner over his firing back in November. Office of Budget and Management Director Mick Mulvaney is now acting as chief of staff.
“Jared Kushner has been rising internally,” Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman told CNN’s New Day on January 16. “We have seen him as part of the negotiations on the Hill. Though he doesn’t really have a ton of relationships beyond his work on criminal justice reform, he is feeling ascendant.”
Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told The Post that Kushner “has already successfully helped negotiate deals…so it’s no wonder the president asked him to join the negotiating team to work on a deal to open the government and secure our border.”
Indeed, Trump’s proposed border wall deal, on which the Senate will vote Thursday, “had Kushner’s imprint,” White House officials told The Post.
However, there are mixed feelings over Kushner’s role among Republican politicians. “I love the Cush,” Trump ally Rep. Matt Gaetz told The Post. “I’ll tell you what, he’s turned out to be a master negotiator and a competent force on the Hill. Jared has really deployed private sector dealmaking to this process and brought that to Trump world.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a moderate, criticized Kushner’s lack of relevant experience to be dealing with the shutdown. “That doesn’t mean he’s not helpful or he’s not effective, but there is a difference there… It’s really hard to understand the dynamics unless you’ve really been immersed in this.”
Senior advisor to the president, Jared Kushner, delivers remarks during the signing ceremony for the First Step Act and the Juvenile Justice Reform Act in the Oval Office of the White House December 21, 2018 in Washington, D.C. Win McNamee/Getty Images
