Jared Kushner’s time is officially up
Over the course of the past few days, a surreal series of events has played out. Jared Kushner leaked to the media that Donald Trump had told him and Ivanka to resign from the White House and move back to New York. Then he appeared to simultaneously plant suspiciously similar stories in the New York Times and Washington Post about how his White House role was “shrinking.” It sure felt like a frantic buildup to something. Now we may have the explanation: Kushner’s time up. Literally.
The Senate Judiciary Committee gave Jared Kushner until November 27th to turn over the emails he’s been withholding about the campaign’s communications with WikiLeaks and a “backdoor overture” from Russia (link). In other words, that deadline is later today. For reasons known only to him, Kushner has steadfastly refused to turn over these emails to this committee. Some pundits have suggested that it means Kushner is more afraid of the legal ramifications of turning over the emails than he is of the legal ramifications of not turning them over – but only he knows why he’s handling it how he’s handling it.
In any case, when placed within the context of an imminent deadline that he appears to be trying to avoid, the developments of the past few days seem to make more sense. Has Jared Kushner been laying the groundwork for his resignation from the White House and departure from Washington DC, because he thinks it’s his only way to avoid having to continue cooperating with the Senate probe? Surely he understands that the investigation won’t stop focusing on his past actions just because he quits and moves away. Or is this some weird bluff?
And yet, in light of the deadline that Jared Kushner is facing today, it’s difficult to imagine the buildup over the past few days having been about anything other than this deadline. In any case, Kushner’s time is officially up for turning over the emails. Now we find out if time is also up on his White House tenure.
