JULY 6, 2021
Trump son-in-law and former White House adviser Jared Kushner. NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images
- Jared Kushner reportedly had a blowup with the chair of the Republican National Committee last year.
- A new book from Wall Street Journal reporter Michael Bender details the pre-election exchange.
- Kushner floated taking over the RNC’s entire online fundraising platform, Bender writes.
Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of former President Donald Trump and an ex-White House adviser, got into “an intense argument” with Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel ahead of the 2020 election, according to a new book.
“I don’t give a f— about the future of the Republican Party!'” Kushner told McDaniel in the lobby of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC. This is based on an excerpt of Wall Street Journal reporter Michael Bender’s new book, “Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost,” which was published Tuesday by Fox News.
Before the Kushner blowup, the RNC had become closely intertwined with the Trump campaign during Brad Parscale’s tenure.
“By 2020, the RNC wasn’t merely an extension of the Trump campaign. (2020 campaign manager) Brad Parscale had effectively turned them into a full partner, and Ronna had become one of the president’s closest advisers. The RNC was paying for the field staff. They were covering costs for state directors who couldn’t get calls returned from campaign headquarters. Even the lease for the campaign headquarters was being paid for by the RNC,” Bender writes.
Parscale was demoted as campaign manager in July 2020 in favor of Bill Stepien, a Kushner ally and top aide under former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie amid the “Bridgegate” scandal.
McDaniel held a grudge against Stepien after the two of them clashed during the 2016 Trump campaign, when she was running the Michigan GOP ahead of a crucial victory there, according to the book.
This all led to “tensions at the highest level of Trump World that finally exploded into an intense argument between Ronna and Jared inside the Trump Hotel,” Bender wrote.
McDaniel was already being left out of key strategy meetings and Kushner added insult to injury when he “considered” taking over the RNC’s online fundraising platform, WinRed, because he “didn’t think the RNC could pull off the new operation,” the excerpt says.
McDaniel told Kushner that WinRed – which had to refund $122 million in online donations from people who unknowingly exceeded the federal limit on individual contributions – could be an effective “legacy project” for the GOP, but he didn’t buy it.
“Jared wasn’t interested,” the excerpt says. “‘I don’t give a f— about the future of the Republican Party!’ he told Ronna inside the hotel meeting room. ‘Good to know,’ Ronna shot back. ‘I will be running for chair for a second term, and I will make sure you don’t come anywhere near this!'”
Bender’s book goes on sale July 13.
Courtesy/Source: Business Insider
