Democrats incredulous over Hakeem Jeffries and Jared Kushner meeting

Critics include Senator Chris van Hollen, ex-aide to Obama Tommy Vietor and ex-Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger

Democrats and other Donald Trump critics reacted incredulously to a New York Times report on Sunday that House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries met with Jared Kushner, the president’s influential son-in-law, to discuss possible areas of collaboration.

The reported meeting comes months ahead of the November midterm elections in which Democrats are favored to retake the US House, a development that would make Jeffries speaker. If they are in the majority, Democrats are expected to use their oversight power to aggressively investigate the Trump administration , including self-enrichment by the president and his family.

There are longstanding conflict-of-interest concerns about the way Kushner has continued to make money from foreign nations as he works on foreign affairs, including conflicts in Ukraine, Iran and Gaza.

Asked about the reported meeting, Jeffries said in a statement: “Throughout this Congress, Republicans have adopted a my-way-or-the-highway approach to governing that has failed the American people. To stop the madness, we have repeatedly made clear that an extremist approach will not work and will be met with forceful opposition.

“The American people want bold change and that’s what House Democrats will deliver. In every conversation that we have with the Trump administration, we will continue to make it explicitly clear that the affordability crisis is not a hoax and nothing short of transformational policy change is acceptable. We are fighting for an affordable America. The question is whether Republicans will join us.”

Nonetheless, among some who lamented the reported gathering was Tommy Vietor, previously an aide to former president Barack Obama and now a co-host of the left-leaning podcast Pod Save America.

“Jared Kushner has no actual government job he just uses his family connections to get money from gulf autocrats and fund corrupt deals. The only way [Jeffries] should work with him is with demands for documents and subpoenas,” Vietor posted .

In April, Democrats on the House judiciary committee opened an investigation into Kushner’s financial conflict of interest. The investigation is focused on the way Kushner’s private business has raised money from Gulf nations while Kushner served as a special envoy for peace for the government.

“You cannot both be a diplomat and a financial pawn of the Saudi monarchy at the same time; you cannot faithfully represent the United States with billions of dollars in Saudi and Emirati cash burning a hole in every pocket of every suit you own,” Maryland congressman Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House judiciary committee, wrote in an April letter to Kushner.

The reaction to the meeting underscores the appetite that Democrats have to bring a no-holds barred approach to investigating Trump during the final two years of his second presidency, should they have the opportunity.

Not all Democrats have taken such a pugilistic approach to Trump. The Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, for example, has taken a more collaborative approach to working with Trump in his second term.

Asked whether he supported the meeting during an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Senator Chris van Hollen – a Maryland Democrat – said: “I’m in favor of people meeting with whoever they want to discuss ideas. But it’s one thing to have a meeting. It’s another thing to see something real come out of that.”

Adam Kinzinger, a former Republican congressman from Illinois who is an outspoken Trump critic and served on a House committee that investigated the Capitol attack, posted in reference to the meeting, “Make this make sense,” while tagging Jeffries.

Appearing on Sunday on Fox News, Mike Johnson, the US House speaker and a Louisiana Republican, asserted Kushner was “not really directly involved in the admin, at least in the day-to-day in the White House”.

“I don’t know what that’s about,” Johnson said of Kushner’s reported meeting with Jeffries. “I know Jared has interests and lots of other things going on.”