But they have also politely begged off invitations to visit the White House - not so much because they’re scared of an ongoing association with Kushner, but because they don’t want to get roped into impromptu photo-ops with Trump. Old friends in Manhattan have called to express support for Kushner in the ongoing Russia investigation. That dynamic is part of what has left Kushner most dependent on his trusted team of loyalists at the White House - including political director Bill Stepien, deputy national security adviser Dina Powell, assistant to the President Reed Cordish, Director of Strategic Initiatives Chris Liddell and National Economic Council director Gary Cohn - and on his new collection of outside advisers. This sign-up form is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. You can unsubscribe at any time and you can contact us here. Most surprising to the new-to-politics senior adviser, according to multiple people with ties to Kushner, is the snakepit environment of the West Wing, and the backbiting from rival colleagues.īy signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or updates from POLITICO and you agree to our privacy policy and terms of service. “This is not what he expected,” said one associate who speaks with him regularly. The shift from his old life in New York to his current political reality is one Kushner wasn’t necessarily prepared for when he moved his family to Washington to join his father-in-law’s administration. Ted Cruz’s former campaign manager, Jeff Roe, whose data-driven primary campaign caught his attention.
But some of the new additions to his cadre are people like former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and Sen. He’s discreet about whom he calls upon for outside advice in his White House role. In his first six months in Washington, he’s developed a new circle of advisers - one that’s more political - while leaving behind some of his earlier confidants. Kushner, in the words of one person who knows him, is a longtime “collector of people.” In interviews, half a dozen people who have worked and socialized with him described how he likes to crowdsource on issues new to him, often cold-calling people he is impressed by and making his own introduction. “I was saying, ‘If I were him, I would slink away.’ I think his natural instincts are not as a Trump supporter. “I thought, God, I wouldn’t want to be Jared Kushner having to defend this guy,” he said. In the early days of Donald Trump’s presidential bid, Patricof said he wondered about his young friend.
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