Jared Kushner was personally tapped by Donald Trump to craft a deal with Democrats on immigration, but instead of landing Trump the border wall he so desperately wanted, Kushner’s failure had leaders from both parties agreeing that the president’s son-in-law was way out of his element.
A report from the New York Times shed new light on the role Kushner played in the behind-the-scenes negotiations during the government shutdown. During that time, Kushner was reportedly trying to convince Democrats to move off of their position denying border wall funding in order for a deal that would make both parties happy.
He was unsuccessful on that count, the report noted, leading Donald Trump into the one position he never wanted — caving in to Democrats and ending the shutdown. Trump announced on Friday that he would sign a temporary funding measure that would kick off three more weeks of negotiations on the border wall, though Democrats have still shown no signs of moving from their denial of funding for the wall.
The report noted that Kushner believed he could craft a deal as he had previously done for a criminal justice bill, but the report noted that this bill already had strong bipartisan support and likely could have passed anyway without Kushner’s involvement. He found the negotiations on the border wall much harder, and reportedly overestimated how much sway he could have with moderate Democrats.
“If Jared Kushner thinks there is any daylight between House Democratic leadership and rank-and-file members on this issue, then the extent that he lands this plane it will land in the Alamo,” said Representative Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat from New York.
The report noted that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer didn’t give much credence to Jared Kushner, believing that anti-immigration White House adviser Stephen Miller was really the one with the power.
Kushner was asked by POTUS to get a wall deal. He emerged from the shutdown mess with no immigration deal, but with Dems, conservatives and White House colleagues thinking he was out of his depth. https://t.co/GR2ZMyLFu3
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) January 27, 2019
This is the second report in a matter of days calling into doubt what political power Jared Kushner might have. He came into the Trump administration with no foreign policy or political experience, and his only real connection was being married to the president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump. But Donald Trump has placed Kushner in a series of high-profile leadership positions, calling on him to lead Middle East peace negotiations, fighting the opioid epidemic, and leading an arms deal with Saudi Arabia. He has few victories in those endeavors.
Jared Kushner’s reputation outside the United States does not appear to be much better, as noted previously by the Inquisitr . Earlier in the week, a report noted that intelligence officials have refrained from sharing some surveillance of foreign leaders because they do not want Trump to see how much these leaders mock Kushner’s lack of experience.