A spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee is defending senior White House adviser Jared Kushner with a new op-ed that claims he is “quietly tackling Washington’s swamp.”
“President Donald Trump set out to drain the Washington swamp, and perhaps on one has aided him more effectively than senior adviser Jared Kushner,” Kayleigh McEnany wrote in an op-ed for CNN. “As Kushner continues to make government accountable to the people, the Washington swamp — including the media and DC bureaucracy — has retaliated with a Kushner takedown effort, hiding or downplaying his accomplishments while engaging in character assassination.”
McEnany pointed to Kushner’s work with several government agencies, including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the White House Office of American Innovation, as examples of the “meaningful difference Kushner is making.”
Kushner, who has a broad portfolio of issues, is tasked with overseeing efforts to modernize government services, which includes efforts for the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The president’s son-in-law most recently traveled to Mexico City this week to meet with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to discuss trade, immigration, and security.
“But you would be hard-pressed to find much positive media coverage of these or Kushner’s other achievements,” McEnany wrote. “A barrage of contrived smear stories about Kushner’s interactions with CEOs or security clearance dominate — attacks clearly fueled by those who resent Kushner’s plans to change Washington.”
Kushner has been at the center of controversy over his business ties and security clearance, which was recently downgraded after White House chief of staff John Kelly implemented a new policy last month in the wake of the scandal involving former White House staff secretary Rob Porter.
