In her new book — Kushner, Inc.: Greed. Ambition. Corruption. The Extraordinary Story of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump — New York Times journalist Vicky Ward says that the eldest daughter of the president, and her husband, have been gaming the system to their advantage.
The Slot reports that in her book, Ward “portrays Ms. Trump and Mr. Kushner as two children forged by their domineering fathers — one over involved with his son, one disengaged from his daughter — who have climbed to positions of power by disregarding protocol and skirting the rules when they can.”
But while Kushner Inc. says that Donald Trump himself asked his then-White House Chief of Staff, John Kelly, to send the couple back to New York and out of his administration — that didn’t happen. Their presence and their clearances have, according to some critics, caused problems for the president at home and abroad.
Ward says that Ivanka Trump still behaves as if she’s an employee of the Trump Organization, so when she’s told “no,” she just goes over that person’s head. The book claims that when Trump and Kushner asked to travel on Air Force planes and were refused by Rex W. Tillerson, the former secretary of state, the daughter of the president dragged Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin into the mess.
Ward quotes an unnamed source at the State Department who said that Ivanka Trump would just have a cabinet member procure the plane for her.
“When Rex W. Tillerson, the former secretary of state, would deny the requests, the couple would invite along a cabinet secretary, often Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, to get access to a plane.”
Kushner Inc . also alleges that even though Donald Trump seems to be a fan of Jared Kushner now, he wasn’t always on board. The book claims that Trump didn’t understand why it should be his daughter who should undergo a religious conversion prior to marriage. In fact, the president joked that Ivanka “could have married Tom Brady, the quarterback for the New England Patriots.”
Now that John Kelly is gone from the Trump administration — and Jared and Ivanka are still there — their positions in the White House continue to rankle some, and they are the subject of regular accusations of information leaks. Last week, Kushner’s meeting with the Saudi royal family went off-script when the senior adviser didn’t keep embassy officials in Riyadh in the mix, per The Inquisitr .
Kushner not only kept embassy officials in the dark, but he ignored convention and let the Saudis provide him with security, rather than the forces provided by the U.S. government.
