House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries’ meeting with Jared Kushner, the president’s influential son-in-law, has sparked backlash from his own party and other Donald Trump critics. 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. The only way [Jeffries] should work with him is with demands for documents and subpoenas,” Vietor posted.
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.
Tim Scott defended fellow US South Carolina Republican senator Darline Graham’s knowledge of national security issues ahead of their state’s runoff election on Tuesday. Graham, who was appointed to fill the Senate seat held by her brother Lindsey Graham after his sudden death in July, is in a Republican primary runoff against South Carolina congressman Ralph Norman. Dan Sullivan supports Dan Sullivan against Dan Sullivan in Alaska’s US Senate election, says a former Alaska mayor who recently backed the race’s Republican incumbent over a challenger sharing their name.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
