Here’s the part where Jared Kushner flips on Donald Trump
Jared Kushner does not want to suffer the same fate as his father, Charles Kushner. The founder of Kushner Companies, a New Jersey-based real estate empire, pleaded guilty to 18 counts of making illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion and witness tampering and wound up serving 14 months in federal prison. However, Jared has a myriad of legal issues that are being examined by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. He is scared.
That’s why Jared pushed his father-in-law, Donald Trump, to fire FBI Director James Comey, which backfired in stunning fashion when Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller as Special Prosecutor on May 17, 2017. Making matters worse, Mueller has hired a legal dream team of Justice Department veterans with expertise in an area that might apply to Jared (e.g. financial crimes, political corruption, national security, cybercrimes). That is why he hired high-priced lawyer Abbe Lowell , who just helped Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) beat political corruption charges, to help defend him. And that’s why it is obvious Jared is banking on a pardon from the President, even though it’s not clear that Trump can legally pardon an alleged co-conspirator.
But what happens if the pardon gets shot down by the courts because Kushner has been labeled a co-conspirator of the President in some of his crimes? What happens if state charges are brought against Kushner? The answer to both questions is a Hobson’s choice for Jared. Follow in the unhappy family tradition of winding up in jail despite all the advantages in life or betray your father-in-law by pleading guilty to a lesser crime in exchange for implicating him.
The reason Jared is more likely to flip on the President is simple. The potential charges he faces are much greater than what his father faced. No way Jared does only 14 months in jail. The President has given the unqualified Jared a robust role in the campaign, the transition and in the White House. He has too much legal exposure for his own good.
At a recent event in London, “Fire and Fury” author Michael Wolff and Trump Administration whisperer speculated, “So the more direct question is will Trump throw his son-in-law under the bus, and then the corollary to that is, will his son-in-law throw his father-in-law under the bus? And I think the answer to both of those questions is ‘yes’.” Since Jared is likely to be in the line of fire with indictments before the President, we can guess who will turn on the other first.
J.H. Norton is a communications professional, life-long Democrat, and married father of two boys living in Washington, D.C.