Jared Kushner reportedly wants a more forceful defense of Trump Jr.'s Russia meeting

(Image credit: Getty Images)

last updated 14 July 2017

President Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner doesn't think the White House is doing enough to defend a meeting he attended last year with a Kremlin-connected lawyer that was set up by Donald Trump Jr., six White House officials and outside advisers told Politico Thursday.

He has received pushback from members of the communications team, including White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, deputy press secretary, who think it doesn't make sense for surrogates to defend a meeting they don't know much about, the officials and advisers said. While they believe the outside legal team should be fielding questions on the meeting, Kushner disagrees, and says it's a White House matter because Trump is now affected.

A person close to Kushner told Politico he does not have a strategy on how to respond, but does think the communications team should call reporters and give them story updates and there should be op-eds placed in The Wall Street Journal and New York Times. He's also upset that surrogates have not received any talking points on the meeting. "Jared's the guy who is rushing the front lines and other people are saying, 'See, wait, hold, and let's get a battle strategy,'" the friend told Politico. In a statement, the White House said Kushner never discussed the meeting with the communications team.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox