Jared Kushner's 'self-awareness is non-existent,' biographer says of new book
Biographer and reporter Vicky Ward issued a written body-slam on former White House son-in-law Jared Kushner's upcoming memoir.
Speaking about it to MSNBC on Sunday, however, she pointed to the many things that Kushner left out of his book, such as the details about why he was denied security clearance and that he remained a high-security concern to the United States while working in the White House.
"You know, the way the Jared Kushner presents himself in his new book is that he is an extraordinary statesman who was able to bring about 'world peace' because he is a disruptor and has this innovative mindset that no traditional politician has beforehand," Ward explained. Kushner did not establish world peace. "But what it completely leaves out is a huge question mark over all of Jared Kushner's foreign policy making. Which is, money. And that is a question that Congress is, asking Jared Kushner right now, as they have asked for him to hand over all of his correspondence with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman because the Saudis government invested two billion dollars with him. Just a month after Jared Kushner left the administration."
She noted the ongoing financial problems for the Kushner family after his father went to prison and deals he's done with foreign countries made him a security risk to the White House. It's the reason he was denied the necessary clearance to work for his father-in-law at first.
"He had a top secret security clearance, but according to his own book, John Kelly wavered on [whether to give it]," said Ward. "Apparently it was touch-and-go. HR McMaster, the former national security advisor, told him that he was considered a target by foreign countries. That he was considered somebody who was a target of influence campaigns. That his family's financial situation made him malleable. You have to ask — because of money."
She noted that one of the main problems throughout the Trump White House years was about the administration using the position to score cash. The Trump hotel near the White House became a place for dignitaries to pay the president in a legal way.
"Jared Kushner had all these conflicts of interest, the White House logs got closed so that we couldn't see who was going in and out of the White House," she continued. "It turns out we did not know those contemporaneously, that one of his investors in a fund he hadn't disclosed on his investment forms was meeting with him in the White House. This was not supposed to happen. This is crony capitalism. And the very worst thing that happened was that after his father got rebuffed by Qatar, he asked the Qataris for money to save his financial problems, Jared Kushner was involved in green-lighting a blockade of Qatar by the Saudis. Qatar is where the Americans have an airbase. That is our national security in the region. So, no wonder Rex Tillerson, then the Secretary of State, and James Mattis, the secretary of defense went berserk. Because they were, like, what is going on?"
None of these details made it to Kushner's book and he provided no defense of those allegations against himself.
Ward also detailed factoids about Donald Trump from a previous book she'd written. She said that Trump kept "thank you" notes that she'd sent after doing interviews with him for a book. When the book turned out to be not as flattering as he wanted, he released the "thank you" notes.
"You know, your personal story, he kept something about you that he could use, in his eyes, as retribution. That is scary, if you apply that mentality to these documents," said MSNBC host Alex Witt.
See the conversation below or at this link.
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