white house intrigue
Report: Trump, frustrated with Jared Kushner and his advice, wants him to go back to New York
Once tasked with everything from brokering peace in the Middle East to ending the opioid crisis in America, President Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner has seen his responsibilities slowly fade away over the last few months, several White House officials told Vanity Fair.
It started when Chief of Staff John Kelly arrived over the summer. "Kelly has clipped his wings," one Republican close to the White House told Gabriel Sherman. He's made it so Kushner, who worked in real estate and once ran a newspaper, mostly focuses on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Kelly was also angry when Kushner made an unannounced trip to Saudi Arabia right before the Crown Price arrested 11 of his fellow Saudi royals, Vanity Fair reports; many believe the timing proves Kushner had something to do with planning the purge, and that's what ticked off Kelly. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders found this notion hilarious, telling Vanity Fair, "Chief Kelly and Jared had a good laugh about this inquiry as nothing in it is true."
Kelly's not the only person in the White House finding fault with Kushner — several Republicans told Sherman Trump is not pleased with the political advice he's received from his son-in-law, including to back Luther Strange in the Alabama Republican Senate primary. Strange ended up losing to Roy Moore, who now stands accused of sexual misconduct by several women. Three Republicans told Sherman that if Trump had his way, Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, would return to New York City with their family, where the president thinks they would escape negative press.