Jared Kushner Eyed As Trump’s Chief Of Staff — Others Shun Thankless Post

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By Dave Goldiner December 14, 2018

Jared Kushner is already known as the ultimate Trump whisperer, with an office next to the president and a ring on the finger of the orange haired guy’s favorite daughter.

But now the presidential son-in-law may be close to being named chief of staff, a move that would at once solidify his power in the West Wing and raise screaming new questions about nepotism and other conflicts.

Three sources told the Huffington Post that Kushner met with Trump about the soon-to-be-vacant power broker post on Wednesday.

Trump earlier said he had five candidates on a short list for the once-coveted job. Insiders said far right politico David Bossie and ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich are among the possible choices.

Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she didn’t know if Kushner was a candidate.

“All of us here would recognize, he will be great in any role that the president chooses to put him in,” she said.

Some insiders insisted Kushner is not interested in the gig because he’s happy with the less-structured role he now plays.

“He’s not currently inclined to pursue it,” a source told Reuters.

The job became a hot potato when Trump ousted John Kelly under the belief that Nick Ayres, chief of staff for Mike Pence, would accept the post. But the GOP insider turned the gig down for family reasons — and other cabinet members quickly signaled they aren’t interested.

Being chief of staff is a draining and thankless task in the best of times. But under Trump, it’s proven to be virtually impossible to keep the president on message or manage his schedule, two key parts of the job.

The ever-deepening legal crisis enveloping Trump would also give pause to almost anyone who does not relish the thought of being dragged into Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian collusion and corruption.

Enter Jared.

The wunderkind is already up to his neck in Mueller probe-related trouble, so he likely wouldn’t worry about more legal jeopardy.

And he somehow has managed to say on his dad-in-law’s good side despite having pushed some of the worst decisions of Trump’s disastrous first two years in office.

Plus he’s married to Ivanka, so he’s family. At the end of the day that probably counts for more than anything else in Trump’s collapsing universe.

Dave Goldiner is the Forward’s director of digital media. Dave is a veteran journalist who has spent two decades working at newspapers in the United States and Africa. A native New Yorker, Goldiner wrote for the New York Daily News, where he covered some of the biggest stories of our time, including the attacks of September 11, along with thousands of stories of hope and heartbreak. He also studied and worked in Southern Africa and has written for publications in South Africa and Zimbabwe. He holds masters degrees in journalism and public administration from Columbia University. Dave can be reached at [email protected], or follow him on Twitter @davegoldiner

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