Members of President Trump’s family believe that White House chief of staff John Kelly is allowing Jared Kushner to be exposed to political attacks, Axios reported on Wednesday.
A White House official told the news outlet that Trump’s family, particularly his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., is furious with Kelly for seemingly leaving Trump’s son-in-law and adviser open to attack after downgrading his security clearance from “interim top secret” to “interim secret” on Tuesday.
“‘Javanka’ and Kelly are locked in a death match. Two enter. Only one survives,” the unidentified source told Axios, referring to Kushner and his wife, first daughter Ivanka Trump.
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Kushner’s role in the White House is likely to be diminished until his full security clearance is approved, according to news reports.
Kelly said last week that he has confidence in Kushner’s ability to do his job.
“I will not comment on anybody’s specific security clearance situation or go beyond the memo released last week,” Kelly said in a statement.
“As I told Jared days ago, I have full confidence in his ability to continue performing his duties in his foreign policy portfolio including overseeing our Israeli-Palestinian peace effort and serving as an integral part of our relationship with Mexico,” he continued. “Everyone in the White House is grateful for these valuable contributions to furthering the president’s agenda. There is no truth to any suggestion otherwise.”
Kushner’s loss of his interim top secret clearance came after a memo from Kelly announcing the White House would change its handling of interim security clearances.
“I can tell you that no decision within the memo will impact anything that Jared Kushner is working on. In terms of specifics on security clearance, I can’t get into that,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said last week.
