abort! abort!
Trump 2020 might be Kushner's escape hatch
It has been a rough few weeks for President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. The senior White House adviser lost his top-secret security clearance last Friday, is accused of being a target for manipulation by foreign officials, and was the subject of a New York Times piece alleging companies gave his family business millions in loans following White House meetings.
Now, though, with the official announcement of Trump's 2020 re-election bid, Kushner has a convenient escape hatch from the West Wing if the scandals mount much further: He can simply transition to being a campaign adviser. "People close to Kushner do not expect him to make a sudden departure — unless more damaging news stories make his continued presence in the White House untenable," Politico writes. "If he does leave, he's expected to do so on his own terms, administration officials said."
While there has been some question as to how well Kushner can continue to do his job in the White House without his high-level security clearance, Chief of Staff John Kelly reassured: "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." But even if Kushner weathers the storm, it doesn't look like it will be pleasant: His devoted spokesman, Josh Raffel, is leaving the administration, and Trump is reportedly "in a bad, mad place" in part due to seeing Kushner continually "pounded in the press," Axios writes.