Thursday’s roundtable at President Trump’s summer White House in New Jersey to address prison and sentencing reform with governor’s is the latest bid by top aide Jared Kushner to give his father-in-law a rare bipartisan victory on a once controversial issue.
In getting Trump to carve out part of his working vacation at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., Kushner and other officials are hoping to demonstrate how important the issues are to the president as he works to get a Senate vote in the next month.
Trump’s meeting this afternoon with governors, state attorneys general, and top aides is the latest in which he will endorse prison reform and he is also expected to open the door to sentencing reform, a sign to key senators that he is ready for a deal.
Just last week he met with Trump met with Republican Sens. Mike Lee, Lindsey Graham, Tim Scott and Chuck Grassley who are working legislation on sentencing and prison reform.
“We are trying to get a vote in the next two weeks,” said an administration official of the broad prison reform bill known as the First Step Act that passed the House overwhelmingly.
As he has on Middle East peace and other projects his father-in-law has given him, Kushner has worked overtime — and always behind the scenes — to build an unusual coalition in support of the reforms.
Not only has former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist joined in, but so have liberals like former Obama aide Van Jones and influential social media figures like Kim Kardashian have backed the president.
With Kushner’s urging, others involved include Koch Industries, former Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint and Right On Crime’s Craig DeRoche.
“It’s important the president is open to limited sentencing reform being added to the prison reform legislation being considered in the Senate,” said Gingrich. “The guilty must be held to account, and it is our responsibility to ensure the punishment fits the crime. Certain sentencing statutes have not performed as intended, have led to unjust consequences, and should be eliminated. Adding such provisions to the First Step Act is just common sense,” he added.
Kushner has also brought in prominent religious figures and pastors and he NAACP.
“Jared has the ability to go into ‘no-go’ zones for Republicans,” said an ally, noting that the Trump family member doesn’t stick to any partisan angle when he is trying to nail down a victory for the White House.
Officials hope that today’s event will spark action in the Senate and prompt leaders to put legislation on the summer calendar. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has kept the Senate in session.
“There can’t be any doubt that by having this as the only major event on the president’s schedule that he is laser focused on this,” said one associate, who added, “We think that with this momentum and with the coalition behind it, that this can actually happen.”
Prison and sentencing reform is a personal issue for Kushner. His dad served 14 months of a 24-month sentence in Alabama for tax evasion and other crimes, and the rest of the time he was in a New Jersey halfway house.
According to ABC News, Kushner “traveled frequently to Montgomery, Alabama, on weekends to visit his father behind bars.”
