Publicly, the White House reverted to form with its initial response to reports that Donald Trump’s closest confidant and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, asked Russian diplomats to create a secret channel for communications between Moscow and the Trump transition team. Trump erupted in a typical Sunday morning tweetstorm that can basically be summed up as “(noun) (verb) FAKE NEWS!” Along similar lines, Trump’s second son, Eric, denounced the entire Russian hacking affair as a hoax.
Privately, though, several people close to Trump believe this situation is as far from being fake as you can get. How do we know? Apparently Kushner is being pressured to take a break. On Sunday’s edition of ABC’s “This Week” ABC News White House correspondent Jonathan Karl revealed that several people in Trump’s inner circle are more worried about Kushner being ensnared in the Russia investigation than they’re letting on publicly. Watch here.
NEW: @jonkarl: People close to the president are saying it might be time for Jared Kushner to take a leave of absence from the White House. pic.twitter.com/pIgqkNJNx1
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) May 28, 2017
During a round table discussion at the start of the show,Karl told host Martha Raddatz that people close to Trump are worried that Kushner’s massive workload may be catching up with him. Reportedly, Kushner has taken on more responsibilities than anyone working in the West Wing.
Several people in Trump’s inner circle believe that even if Kushner is ultimately cleared of any Russia-related wrongdoing, the fact that he is now “the center of the investigation” will make it nearly impossible for him to do his job. For that reason, they believe that it may be time for Kushner to “take a step back” at the very least, and possibly go on “a leave of absence.”
Raddatz asked if Trump would be willing to go along with such a move. Karl replied that there has been talk about “a major shake-up” coming at the White House very soon. Trump is reportedly very perturbed at how his first four months in office have gone, and Karl suggested that “all things are on the table with Jared Kushner.”
Later in the day, Karl seemed to hedge, indicating that one of the two people who will ultimately decide whether Kushner steps back isn’t willing to go that route–yet.
To be clear: there's no indication the president himself wants Kushner to take a break, regardless of what others close to the President say
— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) May 28, 2017
It says a lot about Trump that he’s even thinking about standing by Kushner. After all, a number of national security professionals interviewed after news of the communications link broke believe that Kushner’s actions amount to espionage, and could potentially border on treason.
But there’s one other person who will have a say in this–Kushner’s wife, Ivanka Trump. According to Saturday’s New York Times, the Kushners have not made a long-term commitment to stay in the capital. Rather, they plan to review whether to stay in Washington or return to Manhattan. Could this furor potentially lead to Ivanka and Jared pulling up stakes at some point in the summer and going on a Bill O’Reilly-style vacation from which they won’t return? That remains to be seen.
This much is clear–many people in the White House are effectively saying that the Russia investigation is not fake news.
(Image compilation by Liberal America. Sources: Gage Skidmore, Lori Berkowitz, and Antonio Rosset)
