Jared Kushner Reveals Senior Senate Chuck Schumer Upset His Mother By Saying 'Jared’s Going to Jail'

In a recent interview on the Lex Fridman Podcast, Jared Kushner, the son-in-law and former adviser to Donald Trump, revealed that Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the U.S. Senate, had upset his mother with remarks about him going to jail over ties to Russia. Kushner recounted the incident, stating, "My poor mom, I told her to stop, you know, reading whatever. I said, ‘I promise you, we didn’t do anything wrong, it’s good.’ But you know, she’d call me [to] say … ‘Our friends on the Upper East Side were talking with Chuck Schumer, who says Jared’s going to jail.’”

Schumer, the senior senator from New York, served as the Democratic minority leader in the U.S. Senate during Trump's presidency and has held the position of majority leader since 2021, reports The Guardian. Kushner, married to Trump's daughter Ivanka, played a significant role as his chief adviser during the campaign and in the White House.

The period of Trump's first two years in power was marked by investigations and speculation regarding his connections to Russia and Moscow's interference in the 2016 U.S. election. Kushner, in particular, came under scrutiny for his interactions with high-ranking Russians. Marty Baron, a former Washington Post editor, claimed in a memoir that Kushner attempted to have him fired over the paper's reporting on the matter.

Robert Mueller, the special counsel appointed by the Department of Justice, conducted investigations and issued a detailed report. While no collusion was established between the Trump camp and Moscow, Mueller did not exonerate Trump, presenting extensive evidence of possible obstruction of justice. Trump, with the support of his second attorney general, William Barr, claimed vindication despite the ongoing legal challenges.

Since Trump's defeat in the 2020 election, Kushner has distanced himself from his father-in-law's political operation. However, Trump continues to dominate the Republican primary for 2024 despite facing 91 criminal charges and various legal threats, reported OK! Magazine. Kushner's own business dealings, particularly lucrative links to Saudi investors, have drawn attention, with critics suggesting connections to his time as a White House aide.

Despite the controversies, Kushner expressed his perspective on the Russia investigations, stating, "I felt like this is one of those things where they’re going to try and catch you, and then if you step on the line, they catch with one misrepresentation, they’re gonna try to put you in jail or worse … and so, for me, that was a big concern.” He also shared his frustration over Schumer's comments, emphasizing, "This is, like, a leading senator saying these things. And so it was just interesting for me to see how the whole world could believe something and be talking about it that I knew with 1,000% certainty was just not true."

Kushner's experience during the Senate intelligence and judiciary committees' investigations involved more than 20 hours of testimony and spending millions of dollars "out of my own pocket" on legal fees, reports The Hill. Despite the challenges, he remains steadfast in his belief that the accusations were baseless and expressed the difficulty of seeing a narrative unfold that he knew to be untrue.