Kushner dismisses Trump legal counsel threat to quit as ‘whining’

Former Trump White House senior adviser Jared Kushner dismissed threats from then-White House counsel Pat Cipollone and his team to resign ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, riots as “whining,” according to testimony aired during Thursday night’s committee hearing. 

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), a member of the House select committee investigating the Capitol riots, asked Kushner during a recorded deposition whether he was aware of instances where Cipollone threatened to resign leading up to Jan. 6. 

“I kind of, like I said, my interest at that time was on trying to get as many pardons done,” Kushner testified. “And I know that, you know, him and the team were always saying, ‘Oh we’re going to resign, we’re not going to be here if this happens, if that happens,’ so I kind of took it up to just be whining, to be honest to you.” 

Cheney argued the threats from Cipollone and his team to step down in light of plans for a Jan. 6 rally outside the White House and claims of a rigged election were a sign of the seriousness of the situation unfolding in the final days of former President Trump’s term. 

“It requires immediate attention,” Cheney said, adding that instead it was shrugged off by Kushner and others. 

Kushner was one of several former Trump White House officials whose recorded testimony was played during Thursday night’s hearing, when committee members sought to make the case that the Jan. 6 riots were the direct culmination of words and actions by Trump in the months after the 2020 election. 

Former Attorney General William Barr testified that he thought Trump’s claims about a rigged election were “bull—-,” and Ivanka Trump, who is married to Kushner and also served as a senior White House adviser, told the committee that she believed Barr was right.