WASHINGTON – ꦺFormer New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie suggested Sunday it’s time for presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner to leave the White House.
Kushner has been under the microscope for his private business dealings and downgraded security clearance because of difficu🌸lties passing his FBI background che😼ck.
Asked Sunday whether Kushner should leave, Christie suggested Kushner should follow the example set by a “noble” Hope Hicks, who announced her resignatio🐲n as communications dir𒁏ector last week.
“I think what the staff has to do is in fact what Hope Hicks I think did,” Christie
“I think Hope Hicks saw that between the Rob Porter situation and some of the other things that were going on, that she was becoming a distraction for the president and less of an asset in her mind, and she did the noble thing in my view, which was to say, you know what, if I’m not 100 percent an asset for the president, I’m going to back away.”
Christie, a♒ former federal prosecutor, and Kushner have had a rocky🌳 relationship.
Christie’s office successfully prosecuted Kushner’s dad in the early 2000s for tax evasion, which Jared thought was an unjust attack on his family.
After Trump won the 2016 election, Christie was pushed out of his job as transition tea🔯m leader and he blamed Kushner for his ouster.
Kushner, who is married to Ivanka Trump, was initiall﷽y assigned to an array of jobs at the White House, from working o🦂n solving Middle East peace and overseeing technology innovations and prison reform.
Ivanka, 𝓡meanwhile, tackles issues like child tax credits, paid family leave and entrepreneurship.
But Kushner, who rarely makes public statements, has become the story in recent weeks after Chief of Staff John Kelly limite🐼d his access to highly sensꩲitive material due to his interim security clearance.
Christie said Trump’s family is complicating his ability to lead the White House.
“The situation is made much worse by the fact that we have family members in the White House. It makes it much more difficult,” Christie said. “And so for Jared and for Ivanka and for all the other members of the family we were involved in one way or the other, I think everybody’s got to focus on what’s best for the president.”
Kelly’s action on Kushner was the result of fallout from the scandal surrounding Rob Porter, who was allowed to stay in a top White House job despite failing to pass an FBI background check.
His clearance had been held u𝄹p because of credible accusations he abused his ex-wives and 🍃could succumb to blackmail.
💯Hicks had been dating Porter, who resigned last mont🌼h.
Hicks, the longtime tru𝕴sted Trump adviser, announced her resignation a day after testifying before the House Intelligence Committee.
She ad🐼mitted she tells white lies on occasion for the president on non-Russia related matters.