Christie: Trump’s reliance on family hurts ability to run White House
Speculation is rife over who will exit the White House next
Christie sidesteps question of whether Kushner should be removed
Jarvanka out? Kushner’s business problems add to talk of DC exit
After a week of chaos and infighting at the White House, speculation remains rife over who might soon follow communications director Hope Hicks and resign.
Presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner saw his ability to function as a senior adviser threatened after his security clearances were downgraded at the behest of the chief of staff, John Kelly, whose own position has been questioned recently.
On Sunday Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor who managed Trump’s transition and remains a loyal supporter, said the president’s reliance on family members compromised his ability to run the White House.
But Christie, whose hopes of becoming attorney general were reportedly quashed as payback for his role in jailing Kushner’s father Charles, sidestepped the question of whether he thought the son should be removed.
“The president’s going to have to make that judgment,” Christie told ABC’s This Week.
He added: “This is most particularly sensitive because it’s a family member. In a normal situation, you might terminate a staff member for that reason. It becomes a lot more difficult if you’re going to be sitting at Thanksgiving dinner with that person.
“And so for Jared and for Ivanka [Trump’s daughter] and for all the other members of the family who were involved in one way or the other, I think everybody’s got to focus on what’s best for the president.”
Kushner is facing a series of reports concerning the intersection of his business and political portfolios, including one by the New York Times that said his company received hundreds of millions of dollars in loans from investors who attended White House meetings.
It was also reported that the president is considering whether his daughter and son-in-law should return to New York.
Christie pointedly praised Hicks, who became embroiled in controversy over the handling of domestic assault allegations against former White House staff secretary Rob Porter, to whom she was romantically linked. Hicks also appeared before the House intelligence committee this week, admitting in a nine-hour appearance to telling “white lies” for the president.
“I think Hope Hicks saw that between the Rob Porter situation and some of the other things that were going on that she was becoming a distraction for the president and less of an asset in her mind,” Christie said.
“And she did the noble thing, in my view, which was to say, ‘You know what? If I’m not 100% an asset for the president, I’m gonna back away.’ And I think she deserves credit and I don’t think she’s getting a lot of it in this kind of scandal-driven stuff that’s going on.”
Among the names suggested as next out the door are chief economic adviser Gary Cohn, reportedly angered by Trump’s sudden trade tariff decision, and national security adviser HR McMaster, who has reportedly never got on with the president. The White House has denied that either man will leave.
Despite Trump’s public falling out with Jeff Sessions, it is not thought likely the attorney general will go. The former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus – who resigned last July – told ABC the Trump-Sessions feud was “a problem” but said: “I don’t think it would be good for the president for Attorney General Sessions to leave.”
Trump’s grievance with Sessions is based on the former Alabama senator’s decision to recuse himself from investigations into Russian election meddling.
“[Trump] feels like that was the first sin, the original sin and he feels slighted by it,” said Priebus. “He doesn’t like it and he’s not going to let it go. And so I think when he feels frustrated by the Russia probe and all of those things he watches on television and reads about in the paper.”
Christie said: “The president has the right to do what he wants to do. And if the president has absolutely no confidence in the attorney general, then the president has to act.”
