For Trump supporters, this is a battle between the populist nationalist movement on the right, for which Trump is a figurehead, and the more pragmatic, less ideological approach exhibited by Kushner and his allies. The result could determine whether the Trump White House stays, well, Trumpian, or whether it begins to morph into exactly what someone like Steve Bannon hates: a more mainstream Republican administration.
.. “Jared is a liberal Democrat,” the official said, accusing Kushner of trying to limit the role of some in Trump’s orbit—including Bannon, policy aide Stephen Miller, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Domestic Policy Council Director Andrew Bremberg, and Vice President Mike Pence—in making policy. Kushner, the official charged, is trying to “slow-walk” executive orders on trade, for example.
.. “Jared just doesn’t think that Trump will be successful with somebody like Bannon in there,” said one source close to the White House. “I know, for instance, that there have been meetings that Bannon would normally be in and he hasn’t been in recently.”
.. Kushner and Ivanka Trump have carefully managed their brand in the media, and Bannon’s hard-edged nationalism threatens their smooth public personae.
.. “I’m sure Jared and Ivanka are very embarrassed by Steve’s politics,” the source with inside knowledge of the White House said. “I know they’re not fashionable in Manhattan but those are the politics that got Trump elected. Clearly Jared wants the president to be a more mainstream political figure.”
.. Breitbart News, the right-wing nationalist outlet formerly run by Bannon, has published a string of stories critical of Kushner in the last few days, accusing him of having a “thin resume in diplomacy” and writing up Stone’s accusations.
.. a dynamic within this White House that has thus far proved unshakeable: You can’t bet against the family. And it speaks to a truth about Washington, which is that the establishment always seems to find a way to reassert itself—even in as unusual an environment as Trump’s White House.
“If the Trump administration becomes a pale copy of the Bush administration,” the source with inside knowledge of the White House said, “then there was no reason for this election.”
President Trump’s Most Important Meeting
Most experts believe that the North will not abandon its nuclear program unless the leadership at the top changes. China opposes this because it fears a surge of refugees into its territory and wants to keep North Korea as a buffer against a potentially unified Korean Peninsula dominated by the American military.
The United States and China may have a long-shot chance at an achievable solution if they agree to increase sanctions on North Korea and pursue more modest goals — halting North Korean missile tests and curbing the production of additional nuclear weapons — but there has been no serious sign of interest from the Trump administration.
.. The risk in this meeting is that Mr. Trump knows little about diplomacy with China and does not have a team of China experts in place. He has already had to correct one major error; after calling into question America’s longstanding one-China policy
.. The meeting is also a test for Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and close adviser, who, while also lacking foreign policy and government experience, has played a dominant role as the primary interlocutor with the Chinese, thus eclipsing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
Jared Kushner Flies to Iraq for Briefing on Anti-ISIS Strategy
Trump’s son-in-law to meet with U.S. and Iraqi officers, get briefed on the fight against Islamic State
According to a statement from Mr. Abadi’s office, the two sides discussed the battle in Mosul, international support for Iraq, as well as training and equipment issues.
.. They were joined in those meetings by Tom Bossert, a former administration official under President George W. Bush, now serving as Mr. Trump’s homeland security adviser.
.. Last month, Mr. Kushner made, for a White House official, a rare appearance at the Pentagon, where he met Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince and Minister of Defense Mohammed bin Salman during his meeting with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.
.. He has also been influential with his father-in-law on issues pertaining to Mexico and other countries, and he has been given broad authority by his father-in-law to attempt to broker a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.
.. Mr. Mattis and Gen. Dunford are completing a review of the strategy to fight the group.Trump signaled during the campaign and since assuming office that he had a plan to accelerate the fight against Islamic State, offering no details about what it might be.No plan has emerged, and it now falls to Mr. Mattis and Gen. Dunford to come up with a new strategy.
.. according to numerous U.S. officials, the strategy may largely resemble the old one, initiated under President Barack Obama, with tweaks and additions in the margins, U.S. officials said.
.. The new strategy, or a refinement of it, may include additional U.S. troops for both Iraq and Syria, possible changes that could put American soldiers closer to the front lines, and an accelerated airstrike campaign.
Trump Couple, Now White House Employees, Can’t Escape Conflict Laws
“Donald Trump can evade legal responsibility even if the conflicts of interest remain,” said Noah Bookbinder, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a liberal nonprofit group. “His daughter and son-in-law don’t have that escape hatch.”
Mr. Kushner did resign from more than 200 positions in the partnerships and limited liability companies that make up the family-run multibillion-dollar real estate business. But the financial disclosure report shows that Mr. Kushner will remain a beneficiary of most of those same entities.
.. the Kushner Companies’ deals have become a magnet for opaque foreign money — often from parts of the world that present thorny policy questions, such as China, where Mr. Kushner’s company has actively sought investors, as well as the Middle East and Russia.
.. Mr. Kushner, by contrast, continues to hold multimillion-dollar lines of credit from institutions such as Citigroup and Deutsche Bank, while companies he is still a beneficiary of have billions of dollars in additional loans from heavily regulated institutions.
.. “The one thing Jared really ought to stay completely away from is anything having to do with Dodd-Frank,”
.. Even Mr. Bannon’s aide Julia Hahn, who is 25, reported investments worth between $1 million and $2.1 million
.. Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, had assets worth between $11 million and $44 million.