Jared Kushner, husband of Ivanka Trump and close adviser to her father, alleged president Donald Trump, has been busy these last couple of weeks comforting people and telling them he is not going to resign. In addition to being given more and more responsibilities in the White House, Kushner has been placed at the center of the Trump-Russia scandal plaguing the 45th presidency.
The biggest controversy surrounding Kushner is a meeting that occurred during the campaign where Kushner attempted to set up a secret ‘back-channel’ line of communications between the Trump people and the Russians. The communications channel was never established (but they seem pretty content to be flaunting the collusion right out in the open now).
All Lawyered Up
David Axelrod, former adviser to President Barack Obama, has stated:
“It’s clear that Jared Kushner will be under intense scrutiny at a time when his father-in-law has named him everything but chief cook and bottle washer. It’s bad for the prospects of calm at the White House.”
When he found out he was being implicated Kushner lawyered up, but did agree (through his lawyer) to speak with both the FBI and any congressional committees. He hasn’t been charged with anything yet, but apparently enough people think he has information that would be integral to the investigation to warrant scrutiny.
General H. R. McMaster attempted to quell the significance of the whole ‘back-channel’ thing with this statement, quoted in The New York Times:
“We have back-channel communications with any number of countries. So, generally speaking, about back-channel communications, what that allows you to do is to communicate in a discreet manner. It doesn’t predispose you to any kind of content in that conversation.”
Scuttled To The Sidelines
Meanwhile, in Republican world, they are busy downplaying Kushner’s importance in anything. He has been scuttled to the background in the hopes that this whole Trump-Russia-Kushner thing will just blow away on a stiff breeze. Even though he is still the man in charge of apparently ‘everything’ in the White House, we are hearing little to nothing about his meetings, actions, or anything else.
There is, as would be expected, much resentment toward Kushner due to his elevated level on the staff. It can’t be easy going to work everyday with a bunch of people that smile to your face because they have to but secretly hate you and mutter about you under their breath.
From Politico:
“Two associates who have spoken to Kushner in recent weeks described him as “unhappy” and “miserable,” in part because he has not been able to make the changes he wants to under his father-in-law. Kushner, the source said, has recently seemed resigned to the fact that the internal dysfunction that has defined the first months of Trump’s administration is unlikely to pass. ‘He’s still trying to tell people it will improve, but he seems like he was trying to convince himself,’ the source said.”
Kushner has already hinted the he and Ivanka will be ‘re-evaluating’ their positions in the Trump administration periodically to determine if they will stay in DC or leave Trump to his own devices. From The New York Times:
“He has told friends that he and his wife, Ivanka Trump, have made no long-term commitment to remain by Mr. Trump’s side, saying they would review every six months whether to return to private life in New York.”
One thing is certain — if Kushner were to lose his security clearance he would lose his ability to do many of the tasks assigned to him by his father-in-law. That is something that leading democrats are taking a long, hard look at.
Brian Fallon, former press secretary to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign and previous spokesman for the Department of Justice, commented regarding Kushner’s clearance and the failure of Kushner to include vital information regarding at least one meeting with Sergei Kislyak:
“There is no way Jared Kushner should have a top-level security clearance right now. In light of what we now know he discussed with Kislyak, it is impossible to believe Kushner’s omission of that secret meeting from his clearance application form was an accident. His clearance should be stripped at least until the FBI gets to the bottom of this.”
With all this hanging over his head, is it any wonder that poor little Jared is miserable and unhappy?
