White House chief of staff John Kelly is frustrated with White House advisers Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, to the point that he’s questioning what exactly they do all day, a new report says.
After downgrading Kushner’s security clearance in the wake of the Rob Porter spousal-abuse scandal, Kelly has become upset with the couple’s “freelancing” and blames them for changing President Trump’s mind on key issues, the Associated Press reported on Monday.
Kushner was the subject of more than one bombshell story last week, each enough to cause a major scandal in a normal presidential administration. The Intercept reported that Kushner supported a blockade of Qatar weeks after his father, Charles, failed to secure financing for their real-estate business from that country’s government. The New York Times reported that Kushner accepted millions in loans from two companies after meeting with them at the White House.
Over the weekend, President Trump seemed to be in a jovial mood about his son-in-law: at the annual Gridiron Dinner, he joked that Kushner “couldn’t get through security.” But a Times report last week said he had complained to Kelly about Kushner and his daughter and was asking Kelly for help in pushing the duo out of the White House.
The AP’s sources say Javanka have no plans to go. For her part, only a few months ago Ivanka had planned to become the first female president. In “Fire & Fury,” Michael Wolff reported that she and Jared had an “earnest deal” that she would run for the job after working in the Oval Office.
As for Kushner, it’s unclear how much of his job is left. Last week, CNN reported that after Kelly’s changes, the White House calligrapher has a higher security clearance than Kushner.
But last month, Kelly said he was confident the president’s son-in-law could still be effective. “As I told Jared days ago, I have full confidence in his ability to continue performing his duties in his foreign policy portfolio including overseeing our Israeli–Palestinian peace effort and serving as an integral part of our relationship with Mexico,” he said. “Everyone in the White House is grateful for these valuable contributions to furthering the president’s agenda. There is no truth to any suggestion otherwise.”
