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Quote of the Day

October 18, 2018 at 9:21 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Is there anything that qualifies Jared Kushner to be dealing with any of these issues? He’s an unsuccessful real estate developer who inherited millions of dollars and married the president’s daughter. He’s completely unqualified. This is gross nepotism and it’s just an embarrassment that he has any power at all.”

— Jeffrey Toobin, quoted by The Hill.

Filed Under: White House Tagged With: Jared Kushner

Kushner Likely Paid No Federal Incomes Taxes for Years

October 13, 2018 at 11:17 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Over the past decade, Jared Kushner’s family company has spent billions of dollars buying real estate. His personal stock investments have soared. His net worth has quintupled to almost $324 million,” the New York Times reports.

“And yet, for several years running, Mr. Kushner — President Trump’s son-in-law and a senior White House adviser — appears to have paid almost no federal income taxes.”

“His low tax bills are the result of a common tax-minimizing maneuver that, year after year, generated millions of dollars in losses for Mr. Kushner, according to the documents. But the losses were only on paper — Mr. Kushner and his company did not appear to actually lose any money. The losses were driven by depreciation, a tax benefit that lets real estate investors deduct a portion of the cost of their buildings from their taxable income every year.”

Filed Under: White House Tagged With: Jared Kushner

Quote of the Day

October 9, 2018 at 11:51 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“I can’t say enough good things about Jared and Ivanka. Jared is such a hidden genius that no one understands.”

— Departing U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, quoted by The Hill.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, Nikki Haley

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Coulter Thinks Kushner Wrote Anonymous Op-Ed

September 13, 2018 at 2:56 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Controversial right-wing firebrand Ann Coulter thinks she knows who was behind the anonymous op-ed from a purported senior White House official that landed in The New York Times last week: Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s trusted son-in-law,” USA Today reports.

Said Coulter: “Because he and Ivanka are going to have to go back to the Upper East Side and go to the Hamptons. They’re probably worried that Trump will be removed within the next few years.”

Filed Under: White House Tagged With: Ann Coulter, Jared Kushner

Jared and Ivanka Think Kelly Is Behind Op-Ed

September 7, 2018 at 4:53 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Gabriel Sherman: “With Trump so far unable to execute a strategy to stanch the drip-drip-drip of damaging disclosures, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump have taken the lead in getting control of the crisis. (The Washington Post reported that Trump said the only people he could trust were his family.) Earlier this week, they told Trump they were deeply troubled by the accounts in Woodward’s book and blamed Chief of Staff John Kelly for many of the leaks, an outside adviser close to them told me.”

Said Ivanka to her father: “He’s destroying your presidency.”

“According to three sources, Jared and Ivanka floated a theory on Wednesday that Kelly could be behind the Times op-ed. Under this scenario, the sources said, the op-ed was written by Zachary Fuentes, the deputy chief of staff, at the direction of Kelly. Jared and Ivanka have told people they suspect this because Kelly is the only one with an ego so large as to have convinced himself that he’s saving the country from Trump, which was one of the op-ed’s principal arguments. On Wednesday night, Ivanka and Jared laid out for Trump the theory that Fuentes might be the author.”

Filed Under: White House Tagged With: Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner

Manafort Turned to Kushner to Get Banker a Trump Job

August 14, 2018 at 8:59 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Paul Manafort turned to Jared Kushner for help in an attempt to secure a Trump administration job for a Chicago banker at the center of Manafort’s fraud trial,” Bloomberg reports.

“Manafort… got a quick response.”

“‘On it!’’ Kushner replied on Nov. 30, 2016, according to an email submitted by prosecutors into evidence Monday at Manafort’s trial on bank and tax-fraud charges.”

Filed Under: Trump Transition Tagged With: Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort

Kushner Personally Ordered Deletion Of News Stories

August 6, 2018 at 5:35 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Jared Kushner personally ordered a software developer at his newspaper to remove stories that were critical of his friends and real estate peers,” BuzzFeed News reports.

“Now a senior White House adviser and son-in-law to President Trump, Kushner in 2012 went around the editorial leaders at the New York Observer — the newspaper he owned and operated — to mandate the removal of a handful of articles from the website.”

Filed Under: White House Tagged With: Jared Kushner

Kushner Newspaper Cuts Ties with Pro-Kremlin Writer

July 31, 2018 at 5:54 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The Kushner family–owned New York Observer has cut ties with a writer who has, since 2014, authored dozens of pro-Kremlin articles for the website, the most recent a story in April offering Russia’s spin that the British staged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons,” BuzzFeed News reports.

Filed Under: Media Buzz Tagged With: Jared Kushner

Lawmaker Predicts Indictments for Trump Jr. and Kushner

July 30, 2018 at 4:15 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) predicted on CNN interview that Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner will both be indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Said Cohen: “I think they’re getting closer to knowing that the truth is going to come out that there was activities with the Trump campaign and Russia in releasing those hacks and guiding them to the states and the localities where they came from.”

He addded: “Some of that was Jared Kushner’s responsibilities, some of it was Donald Jr. I think you’re probably going to see indictments of both of those people.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Steve Cohen

Kushner Still Lacks Top Secret Security Clearance

July 13, 2018 at 7:01 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Washington Post: “Jared Kushner, a senior White House adviser and President Trump’s son-in-law, lacks the security clearance level required to review some of the government’s most sensitive secrets, according to two people familiar with his access. For the first year of the Trump administration, Kushner had nearly blanket access to highly classified intelligence, even as he held an interim security clearance and awaited the completion of his background investigation.”

“But when White House security officials granted him a permanent clearance in late May, he was granted only ‘top secret’ status — a level that does not allow him to see some of the country’s most closely guarded intelligence.”

Filed Under: White House Tagged With: Jared Kushner

‘Peace Plan’ May Not Include Palestinians

June 24, 2018 at 8:39 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Jared Kushner said in an interview published Sunday that the Trump administration will soon present its Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, with or without input from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the AP reports

“In an interview published in the Arabic language Al-Quds newspaper, Kushner appealed directly to Palestinians and criticized Abbas, who has shunned the Trump team over its alleged pro-Israel bias, particularly on the fate of contested Jerusalem.”

Filed Under: Foreign Affairs Tagged With: Jared Kushner

Bonus Quote of the Day

June 1, 2018 at 11:28 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Do you really want to know what I think about those jerks? I think they’re a waste of time. They’re guys who can’t get a real job, ethics watchdog? Who gets a job — ethics watchdog? Give me a break.”

— Charles Kushner, in an interview with The Real Deal, about his son’s ethics problems in the White House.

Filed Under: Ethics, White House Tagged With: Charles Kushner, Jared Kushner

Kushner Had Second Interview with Mueller’s Team

May 23, 2018 at 4:10 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Washington Post: “Kushner has had two interview sessions with the special counsel’s team. The first set of questions in November centered largely around former national security adviser Michael Flynn… Then, in mid-April, Kushner sat for six to seven hours of questions that covered many topics, including his work on the Trump campaign, the transition and in the White House and about Trump’s decision in May 2017 to fire Comey.”

“The special counsel’s questioning focused only on Kushner’s work with Trump and did not include topics such as Kushner’s personal finances or those of his family business, Kushner Companies.”

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign, Trump Transition Tagged With: Jared Kushner

Kushner Finally Gets His Security Clearance

May 23, 2018 at 2:16 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Jared Kushner “has been granted his permanent security clearance… ending a period of uncertainty that had fueled questions about whether Mr. Kushner was in peril in the special counsel investigation,” the New York Times reports.

“Mr. Kushner’s F.B.I. background checks had dragged on for a year. White House officials were adamant that the lengthy process was not unusual for a government official who has a complicated financial history and many foreign contacts. But the delay became a distraction and, with the special counsel investigating some of Mr. Kushner’s meetings with Russian officials, it left open the question of whether investigators had uncovered evidence that made him a security threat.”

Filed Under: White House Tagged With: Jared Kushner

Harvard Alumni Tear Apart Jared Kushner

May 22, 2018 at 4:47 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Graduates of the Harvard class of 2003 are making known their displeasure with the current White House administration in an unusual way, using the platform of their 15th reunion alumni notes to launch harsh, personal attacks on a former classmate,” the Boston Globe reports.

“The salvos against Jared Kushner are tucked in among the usual fare of alumni notes, where former classmates proudly recite their latest accomplishments, volunteer work, a move across the country, or the birth of a child.”

Said one former classmate: “I, for one, am actually glad that our Class of ’03 finally has a real, live fascist among us. Who says Harvard isn’t diverse?”

Filed Under: White House Tagged With: Jared Kushner

Kushners Near Deal With Qatar-Linked Company

May 17, 2018 at 12:54 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The company controlled by the family of the White House adviser Jared Kushner is close to receiving a bailout of its financially troubled flagship building by a company with ties to the government of Qatar,” the New York Times reports.

“Mr. Kushner earlier this year lost his top-secret security clearance amid concerns that foreign governments could attempt to gain influence with the White House by doing business with the Kushner Companies.”

Filed Under: White House Tagged With: Jared Kushner

Mnuchin Brings Kushner $22 Bottle of Wine

May 7, 2018 at 6:22 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“He’s reportedly worth $300 million, but it appears even Steve Mnuchin can’t say no to a cheap bottle of wine,” the Daily Mail reports.

“The Secretary of Treasury was snapped bringing a $22 bottle of red wine on a visit to Jared Kushner’s house in Washington DC on Sunday. Mnuchin was dressed down for the visit with Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law, sporting jeans and a gray polo shirt.”

Filed Under: White House Tagged With: Jared Kushner, Steve Mnuchin

Kushners to Buy Out Partner’s Stake In Troubled Property

April 8, 2018 at 12:29 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

The New York Times reports that the Kushner family appears to have “struck a deal to buy out” an investor’s stake in the “troubled” 666 Fifth Avenue property, which is a primary piece of its “real estate empire.”

Axios: “How they got the money is unclear. Questions had been raised about Kushner meetings with foreign big shots like Qatar as part of securing the financing. Per the Times, negotiations with foreign entities drew scrutiny because of Jared Kushner’s role in his father-in-law’s White House.”

Filed Under: White House Tagged With: Jared Kushner

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About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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