Photo: MANDEL NGAN/AFP via GettyIn her new memoir,Kellyanne Conwaytakes aim at another top White House official who served inDonald Trump’s administration: his son-in-lawJared Kushner.Conway, whose bookHere’s the Dealwill be released Tuesday, calls Kushner “shrewd and calculating” and “a man of knowing nods, quizzical looks, and sidebar inquiries” who knew that “no matter how disastrous a personnel change or legislative attempt may be, he was unlikely to be held accountable for it,“according toThe Washington Post, which reported portions of Conway’s memoir Monday.Kushner — who is married to another former White House aide, the president’s daughterIvanka Trump— is one of the most-talked-about figures from Trump’s presidency among former administration officials Conway has kept in touch with, she told PEOPLE in a phone interview Monday.A spokesperson for Kushner did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.“People were afraid to take him on, afraid to question his authority, hold him accountable for different decisions or even rein in his portfolio here and there when many of the issues he decided he should work on were designated to Senate-confirmed cabinet members,” Conway said of what others told her since the Trump presidency ended Jan. 20, 2020.Conway described how Kushner, who like President Trump had no previous political experience before the 2016 election that sent them to the White House, as a “highly intelligent person with a good heart for public service,” but said he was able to influence important decisions in meetings with just a “knowing glance” or a “very flat statement” made at the right moment.This sway, she said, allowed Kushner to keep “gobbling up different pieces of a policy portfolio that other folks had worked on.“The habit, she continued, sometimes could “upend months of preparation and work that young staffers had performed — sometimes through the weekend and through the night — on an issue that the president wanted to make progress on.“Conway contrasted Kushner’s style with her own approach to navigating Washington when she arrived as a newcomer at age 18 when she moved there to attend Trinity College and then George Washington University Law School before launching a successful political polling career.“I tried to know what I didn’t know and I tried to learn, listen, pay my dues, work up the hierarchy and the food chain, be an unpaid intern and apprentice and then have small hourly jobs, including in polling for $8 an hour,” Conway said Monday, before adding, “Swooping into Washington as Jared did and having your first job in the West Wing and having a ton of power and authority that doesn’t match with the accountability is problematic.“Kushner was unafraid to take on a myriad of issues, Conway writes in her memoir, according to thePost.Courtesy of Threshold Books"There was no subject he considered beyond his expertise. Criminal justice reform. Middle East peace. The southern and northern borders. Veterans and opioids. Big Tech and small business,” she reportedly writes. “He misread the Constitution in one crucial respect, thinking that all power not given to the federal government was reserved tohim.“In the interview, Conway suggests it was “Jared’s ego and self-aggrandizement,” which “somehow prevented him from wanting to learn some of the basics before leaping” into various policy decisions.According to thePost, Conway writes that the tension between her and the president’s son-in-law was in part because of Kushner’s accusation that she leaked information to the media, which she reportedly denies.“He has since told me he regrets the relationship we had in the White House,” Conway told PEOPLE, adding, “I’m glad that he tried to make amends and I’m glad that he said he has some regret.“Asked if the president was ultimately responsible for the actions of those that worked in his administration, Conway said, “President Trump assumed that we were all there for the reason that he was there, which was to improve the country and to help the country.” “President Trump and his family made enormous sacrifices — financial, privacy, energy, security, time — and he did that because he loves the country and he wanted to be the president,” she said. “That wasn’t true of everyone who wanted a job or got a job. It was very clear that some of them were there for themselves, their own egos, their own platforms, their own future bankability.”
Photo: MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty
In her new memoir,Kellyanne Conwaytakes aim at another top White House official who served inDonald Trump’s administration: his son-in-lawJared Kushner.Conway, whose bookHere’s the Dealwill be released Tuesday, calls Kushner “shrewd and calculating” and “a man of knowing nods, quizzical looks, and sidebar inquiries” who knew that “no matter how disastrous a personnel change or legislative attempt may be, he was unlikely to be held accountable for it,“according toThe Washington Post, which reported portions of Conway’s memoir Monday.Kushner — who is married to another former White House aide, the president’s daughterIvanka Trump— is one of the most-talked-about figures from Trump’s presidency among former administration officials Conway has kept in touch with, she told PEOPLE in a phone interview Monday.A spokesperson for Kushner did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.“People were afraid to take him on, afraid to question his authority, hold him accountable for different decisions or even rein in his portfolio here and there when many of the issues he decided he should work on were designated to Senate-confirmed cabinet members,” Conway said of what others told her since the Trump presidency ended Jan. 20, 2020.Conway described how Kushner, who like President Trump had no previous political experience before the 2016 election that sent them to the White House, as a “highly intelligent person with a good heart for public service,” but said he was able to influence important decisions in meetings with just a “knowing glance” or a “very flat statement” made at the right moment.This sway, she said, allowed Kushner to keep “gobbling up different pieces of a policy portfolio that other folks had worked on.“The habit, she continued, sometimes could “upend months of preparation and work that young staffers had performed — sometimes through the weekend and through the night — on an issue that the president wanted to make progress on.“Conway contrasted Kushner’s style with her own approach to navigating Washington when she arrived as a newcomer at age 18 when she moved there to attend Trinity College and then George Washington University Law School before launching a successful political polling career.“I tried to know what I didn’t know and I tried to learn, listen, pay my dues, work up the hierarchy and the food chain, be an unpaid intern and apprentice and then have small hourly jobs, including in polling for $8 an hour,” Conway said Monday, before adding, “Swooping into Washington as Jared did and having your first job in the West Wing and having a ton of power and authority that doesn’t match with the accountability is problematic.“Kushner was unafraid to take on a myriad of issues, Conway writes in her memoir, according to thePost.Courtesy of Threshold Books"There was no subject he considered beyond his expertise. Criminal justice reform. Middle East peace. The southern and northern borders. Veterans and opioids. Big Tech and small business,” she reportedly writes. “He misread the Constitution in one crucial respect, thinking that all power not given to the federal government was reserved tohim.“In the interview, Conway suggests it was “Jared’s ego and self-aggrandizement,” which “somehow prevented him from wanting to learn some of the basics before leaping” into various policy decisions.According to thePost, Conway writes that the tension between her and the president’s son-in-law was in part because of Kushner’s accusation that she leaked information to the media, which she reportedly denies.“He has since told me he regrets the relationship we had in the White House,” Conway told PEOPLE, adding, “I’m glad that he tried to make amends and I’m glad that he said he has some regret.“Asked if the president was ultimately responsible for the actions of those that worked in his administration, Conway said, “President Trump assumed that we were all there for the reason that he was there, which was to improve the country and to help the country.” “President Trump and his family made enormous sacrifices — financial, privacy, energy, security, time — and he did that because he loves the country and he wanted to be the president,” she said. “That wasn’t true of everyone who wanted a job or got a job. It was very clear that some of them were there for themselves, their own egos, their own platforms, their own future bankability.”
In her new memoir,Kellyanne Conwaytakes aim at another top White House official who served inDonald Trump’s administration: his son-in-lawJared Kushner.
Conway, whose bookHere’s the Dealwill be released Tuesday, calls Kushner “shrewd and calculating” and “a man of knowing nods, quizzical looks, and sidebar inquiries” who knew that “no matter how disastrous a personnel change or legislative attempt may be, he was unlikely to be held accountable for it,“according toThe Washington Post, which reported portions of Conway’s memoir Monday.
Kushner — who is married to another former White House aide, the president’s daughterIvanka Trump— is one of the most-talked-about figures from Trump’s presidency among former administration officials Conway has kept in touch with, she told PEOPLE in a phone interview Monday.
A spokesperson for Kushner did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
“People were afraid to take him on, afraid to question his authority, hold him accountable for different decisions or even rein in his portfolio here and there when many of the issues he decided he should work on were designated to Senate-confirmed cabinet members,” Conway said of what others told her since the Trump presidency ended Jan. 20, 2020.
Conway described how Kushner, who like President Trump had no previous political experience before the 2016 election that sent them to the White House, as a “highly intelligent person with a good heart for public service,” but said he was able to influence important decisions in meetings with just a “knowing glance” or a “very flat statement” made at the right moment.
This sway, she said, allowed Kushner to keep “gobbling up different pieces of a policy portfolio that other folks had worked on.”
The habit, she continued, sometimes could “upend months of preparation and work that young staffers had performed — sometimes through the weekend and through the night — on an issue that the president wanted to make progress on.”
Conway contrasted Kushner’s style with her own approach to navigating Washington when she arrived as a newcomer at age 18 when she moved there to attend Trinity College and then George Washington University Law School before launching a successful political polling career.
“I tried to know what I didn’t know and I tried to learn, listen, pay my dues, work up the hierarchy and the food chain, be an unpaid intern and apprentice and then have small hourly jobs, including in polling for $8 an hour,” Conway said Monday, before adding, “Swooping into Washington as Jared did and having your first job in the West Wing and having a ton of power and authority that doesn’t match with the accountability is problematic.”
Kushner was unafraid to take on a myriad of issues, Conway writes in her memoir, according to thePost.
Courtesy of Threshold Books
“There was no subject he considered beyond his expertise. Criminal justice reform. Middle East peace. The southern and northern borders. Veterans and opioids. Big Tech and small business,” she reportedly writes. “He misread the Constitution in one crucial respect, thinking that all power not given to the federal government was reserved tohim.”
In the interview, Conway suggests it was “Jared’s ego and self-aggrandizement,” which “somehow prevented him from wanting to learn some of the basics before leaping” into various policy decisions.
According to thePost, Conway writes that the tension between her and the president’s son-in-law was in part because of Kushner’s accusation that she leaked information to the media, which she reportedly denies.
“He has since told me he regrets the relationship we had in the White House,” Conway told PEOPLE, adding, “I’m glad that he tried to make amends and I’m glad that he said he has some regret.”
Asked if the president was ultimately responsible for the actions of those that worked in his administration, Conway said, “President Trump assumed that we were all there for the reason that he was there, which was to improve the country and to help the country.” “President Trump and his family made enormous sacrifices — financial, privacy, energy, security, time — and he did that because he loves the country and he wanted to be the president,” she said. “That wasn’t true of everyone who wanted a job or got a job. It was very clear that some of them were there for themselves, their own egos, their own platforms, their own future bankability.”
source: people.com
