The son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, businessman Jared Kushner, met in August with the leader of the Democrats in the US House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, the New York Times (NYT) reports, citing five sources familiar with the situation. The publication regarded the closed negotiations as preparation for the opposition's victory in the November elections.
The Republican Party, which Trump represents, currently controls both houses of Congress – the House of Representatives and the Senate. According to poll aggregator RealClearPolling, as of August 23, the gap between Republicans and Democrats ahead of the election exceeded 6 percentage points.
Trump also acknowledged the possibility of losing his majority in Congress, but insisted that he “doesn’t care” how the November 3 elections end. At a recent rally in South Carolina, he told voters that if the Democrats win, he faces impeachment, and therefore called on them to go to the polls.
The NYT did not mention Trump's impeachment as a topic of conversation between Kushner and Jeffries. According to the newspaper's sources, the negotiations focused on issues that Democrats and Republicans could work on together if Jeffries became speaker of the House of Representatives.
According to the publication, the meeting was helped by unnamed mutual acquaintances of Kushner and Jeffries, although they themselves had been in contact since Trump’s first term. Kushner then held the position of official adviser to the president and is now a freelance consultant. In this status, he previously met twice in the Kremlin with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Among the specific topics discussed at Kushner's meeting with Jeffries, the NYT named rising housing prices, a shortage of living space and immigration policy.
The publication recalled that Democrats and Republicans had already agreed on an immigration bill in 2024, but Trump then, as a presidential candidate, convinced his party to abandon support for the initiative. He believed that its adoption would have played in favor of the Democrats in the presidential election, since the White House was then headed by Joe Biden.
Trump's son-in-law's secret meeting with Jeffries has already been criticized by both Republicans and Democrats. The current Speaker of the House of Representatives, Republican Mike Johnson, said that Kushner should not “bet on things” prematurely.
“I know Jared is a smart guy and he makes his bets, but I will tell you that you should not bet against the Republicans in the House of Representatives,” Johnson said on Fox News.
The speaker called the upcoming vote in November “an election of contrasts” and expressed confidence that the Republicans will retain the majority. According to Johnson, the outcome of the fight for the House of Representatives will be decided by “about 19 races” in electoral districts.
Former adviser to Democratic President Barack Obama, Tommy Vietor, suggested that Jeffries' communication with Kushner should only be conducted “one way.”
“Jared Kushner has no government position and is simply using his family connections to get money from Gulf autocrats and finance corrupt deals. The only way Jeffries should work with him is by issuing subpoenas and demanding documents,” Vitor wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Politico, amid reports of a meeting between Trump's son-in-law and the Democratic leader, draws attention to the outflow of personnel from the White House. The publication attributes the voluntary resignations of Congressional Relations Director James Braid and press secretary Caroline Levitt to concerns about the Democratic victory.
An unnamed source close to the White House suggested that “we need to get out now” while “the demand is there,” and political analyst Chris Whipple predicted “treacherous waters” for the Trump administration.
“To him [Трампу] the trumpet will come, either with them or without them. It's going to be very ugly, unproductive and probably worse than it is in the next two years,” Whipple said.
