Jeffries-Kushner meeting sparks speculation amid contentious US midterms

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Little is known about the details of the discussion, which was first reported on Sunday by the New York Times. The newspaper described it as a high-profile meeting with the hope of sparking bipartisan “common ground.” The meeting reportedly touched on issues ranging from housing and immigration to the cost-of-living crisis. Americans are struggling under inflationary prices that Democrats fault Republicans and Trump for failing to curb. In a statement reported on Sunday, Jeffries did not mention the private conversation but said the Republican administration needed to drop the GOP’s “my-way-or-the-highway” approach that has thus far “failed the American people”. “To stop the madness, we have repeatedly made clear that an extremist approach will not work and will be met with forceful opposition”, the New York congressman said. “The question is whether Republicans will join us.” Kushner also suggested that Jeffries meet with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles as a follow-up. The reported meeting comes in the final stretch of the contentious November midterm elections in which Democrats may have a chance to win back the House majority, a highly anticipated development that would elevate Jeffries to the powerful Speaker of the House role. If they win back the seat, Democrats are expected to use their oversight power to aggressively probe the Trump administration, including allegations of self-enrichment by the president and his family. Jeffries’ office did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment. Congressional Republicans are unhappy about the matter. On Sunday, current House Speaker Mike Johnson dismissed the meeting and denigrated Kushner’s importance, telling Fox News, “I don’t know what that’s about. I know Jared has interest in lots of other things going on.” Johnson added that Kushner “hedges bets” and is “not really directly involved in the admin, at least in the day-to-day in the White House”. “I’m telling you what, you better not bet against the House Republicans”, the Louisiana Congressman added, saying that even if the war with Iran was not finished by November, Republicans will still turn up victorious. The meeting also raised some eyebrows for those who worried that Jeffries was indulging one of Trump’s most corrupt cronies. Tommy Vietor, previously an aide to former US President Barack Obama and now a co-host of the left-leaning podcast Pod Save America, noted, “Jared Kushner has no actual government job he just uses his family connections to get money from gulf autocrats and fund corrupt deals. The only way [Jeffries] should work with him is with demands for documents and subpoenas.” Mehdi Hasan, the CEO of Zeteo, echoed Vietor, writing on social media, “The only meeting Hakeem Jeffries should be having with Jared Kushner is to tell him he’ll be subpoenaed by the House for a corruption investigation on day one of Democratic control of the House.” He added, “This is just pathetic stuff from the House Dem leader.” William Kristol, a former neocon-turned-leading voice in the ‘Never Trump’ movement, posted, “Really? Or, as the kids say, AYFKM?” (The acronym stands for “Are you f****** kidding me?”) During his time in Congress, Jeffries has remained a fierce critic of Trump’s bellicose foreign policy, repeatedly condemning the administration’s “reckless war of choice” against Iran and for what he called “a failure to adequately prepare for the consequences of launching a war on Iran”. The meeting shows the depth of Republican Party angst over losing their congressional majority, particularly the House, and the need to make inroads with the opposing party as the White House seeks to stem any potential political fallout on the president. “The American people want bold change and that’s what House Democrats will deliver”, wrote Jeffries in the statement on Sunday. The White House did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment. Jeffries and Kushner are not strangers. The two New Yorkers united during the first Trump administration on landmark legislation to allow sentencing flexibility for certain drug offenses as a way to curtail lengthy terms in the federal prison system. While not necessarily close, they have maintained a professional working relationship despite the repeated punches Trump has inflicted against Jeffries and the Democratic leader’s rhetoric. In Trump’s second term, Kushner has wielded disproportionate influence within the administration despite holding no official White House title. He serves as a top outside adviser and Special Envoy for Peace, shuttling to foreign diplomatic missions as the US war against Iran inches toward its sixth-month mark. Just last week, Kushner traveled to the Middle East to convene with Qatari, Turkish and Egyptian mediators before heading to Tel Aviv where he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the fate of the 15-point Gaza peace plan that Israel had rejected. The trip came after officials from Trump’s newly-created Board of Peace confirmed that Kushner would lead a delegation to break the diplomatic deadlock, via Egypt and Israel. Trump has only met with Jeffries once since returning to the Oval Office. After the meeting, the president posted AI-generated deepfake content of Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer alongside Jeffries wearing a sombrero with a handlebar mustache. The image was widely viewed as a racist trope and a parody of the Democratic establishment just before what would become the longest federal government shutdown in US history. Trump has thus far been able to discount Congress as he either relies on the unchecked force of executive power to implement his priorities or the lobbying of Republicans in the House and Senate, when needed, to fall in line behind his unilateral decisions. That may soon change if Democrats control either the House or the Senate, or both, with lawmakers increasingly keen on flexing their own power in Congress as a coequal branch of government more willing to hold the White House in check. 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