Jared Kushner: NBA players are 'fortunate' that they can take 'a night off from work'

President Trump's senior adviser Jared Kushner is planning to reach out to LeBron James about the NBA strike, as he says in multiple interviews the players are "fortunate" that they can "take a night off from work."

Kushner on Thursday spoke about NBA teams this week refusing to play in protest of the recent police shooting of Jacob Blake, an unarmed Black man, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, telling CNBC the players are "very fortunate that they have the financial position where they're able to take a night off from work without having to have the consequences to themselves financially. So they have that luxury, which is great."

He also called for "actual action" from the NBA players, telling Politico in a separate interview that he will be reaching out to the Los Angeles Lakers' LeBron James today. James is one of the founders of a voting rights organization that recently announced an effort to push for more poll workers in the 2020 presidential election, one of a number of actions it has taken in recent months. The Lakers reportedly voted to boycott the rest of the NBA season.

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Meanwhile, another member of the Trump administration, Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff Marc Short, dismissed the NBA strike entirely on Thursday while suggesting the White House doesn't care about it.

"I don't know that you're going to see the administration weigh in on that one way or the other," Short told CNN. "In my mind, it's absurd and silly." Brendan Morrow