Former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner played a key role in laying the groundwork for Mike Pence to be selected as the 2016 GOP vice presidential nominee, but he admits now that it had a “painful” beginning.
In his new book released today, Breaking History: A White House Memoir, Kushner wrote that unlike in other campaigns, the candidate decided to lead the search for a running mate, and Trump initially settled on Pence, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
Kushner, who was the unofficial campaign manager, wrote that all three fit with Trump’s goal of ignoring the Washington “elite” and reaching out to blue-collar voters.
But, he added, each was vastly different.
“After we read the vetting files of the three candidates, I joked that Christie’s file read like a John Grisham thriller, Gingrich’s read like a Danielle Steel romance novel, and Pence’s read like the Bible. I thought Pence was the perfect choice,” Kushner said.
“A midwestern governor with experience in Washington as a congressman, he was respected by evangelicals, and his steady nature counterbalanced Trump’s enthusiasm,” he said.
To help Pence, Kushner suggested that Trump invite the then-Indiana governor and former leading House conservative representative to the real estate titan’s Bedminster, New Jersey, summer home for a round of golf.
“I had no clue how painful this informal interview would be for Pence, who was not an avid golfer and probably would have preferred a CIA interrogation,” Kushner wrote.
“Trump gave him three strokes per hole, and the round took four hours — more than double the time Trump usually takes to play eighteen holes,” Kushner said. “At the end of their round Trump good-naturedly poked fun at Mike for notching a hole-in-zero on a par three, when he shot an actual par on the hole.”
Later, Trump was campaigning in Indiana and planned to invite Pence to New York for a final interview with his children, Ivanka, Donald Jr., and Eric. But his jet needed emergency work, so he spent the night in Indianapolis and told his children to come there.
“The next morning, the media was surprised when Trump and his family walked through the front door of the governor’s mansion,” Kushner recalled. “The Pence family showed us around their home. During the brief tour, Karen Pence pointed out that the furniture was all made by prison inmates through a program she supported, and Pence gave Trump a book called ‘The Forgotten Man,’ a history of the Great Depression. Inside, Pence inscribed a note: ‘To Donald Trump, with great admiration for the way you have given voice to the Forgotten Men and Women of America.’ Since the visit was last minute, Karen displayed flowers she had picked from her garden that morning and served breakfast in aluminum takeout trays from a local restaurant. Pence opened with a simple prayer, asking the Lord to watch over our family as we fought for the country.”
The rest is history, but Kushner did reveal one curiosity about Pence that many before, and after, him have witnessed.
“Over the next five years, I kept waiting for Pence to break character — to do what most politicians do behind the scenes and criticize others, complain about situations, and push back on requests to travel to events — but he never did,” wrote Kushner of the vice president who stuck with the Trump agenda until the Jan. 6 Capitol riot when he broke to confirm the election of Joe Biden as Trump’s successor.
