‘Insane’ secret meeting with Jared Kushner has the left turning on Hakeem Jeffries

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Hakeem Jeffries privately met Jared Kushner in New York to discuss immigration, housing, affordability and possible areas of cooperation.
Progressives erupted after learning their Democratic leader was talking privately with Trump’s son-in-law.
There’s another twist: Speaker Mike Johnson told Fox’s Peter Doocy he didn’t know about the meeting either.

Politics makes strange bedfellows. But Jared Kushner and Hakeem Jeffries apparently decided not to tell anybody they were getting into bed.

President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries recently held a private meeting in New York to discuss immigration, housing, affordability and areas where Democrats and the Trump administration might actually work together.

The meeting was reportedly arranged by a mutual acquaintance and occurred at that person’s apartment.

And now both sides of Washington are asking the same question: What exactly is going on here?

The left’s reaction was swift — and not exactly warm and fuzzy. Former Obama speechwriter and Pod Save America co-host Tommy Vietor called the meeting “insane.”

“Jeffries shouldn’t meet with Kushner,” Vietor wrote. “He should investigate his shady foreign business deals if he becomes Speaker.”

Mehdi Hasan was even less impressed. “The only reason for Hakeem Jeffries to meet with Jared Kushner should be to tell him he’ll be subpoenaed by the House for a corruption investigation on day one of Democratic control of the House,” Hasan wrote. “Otherwise, this is just pathetic stuff from the House Dem leader.”

Former Republican strategist Tim Miller, now a prominent Trump critic at The Bulwark, agreed with Hasan. “This guy needs to go,” Miller wrote of Jeffries.

Even Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin sounded wary, telling CNN that he didn’t know anything about the meeting while pointing to questions surrounding Kushner’s overseas business dealings.

But perhaps the funniest reaction came from the other side of the aisle. Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked House Speaker Mike Johnson about the meeting Sunday. Johnson looked about as informed as the rest of us. “I don’t know,” Johnson said. “I have no idea.”

Doocy pressed him on whether Kushner had been dispatched by the White House.

Johnson pushed back on that suggestion, saying Kushner is “not directly involved in the administration” and that he wasn’t aware of the purpose of the meeting. Johnson did, however, reject speculation that the meeting meant Republicans were already preparing for Democrats to win the House in November. “You better not bet on it,” Johnson said of predictions that Democrats will take control. “We’re going to win.”

Kushner’s current status makes the meeting especially intriguing.

He doesn’t hold a formal White House position, but he’s hardly sitting at home organizing the family photo albums. He continues to play a significant role in Trump’s foreign-policy orbit and just last week met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as part of efforts surrounding Trump’s Gaza peace initiative.

So why Hakeem?

One obvious answer is history. Kushner and Jeffries worked together during Trump’s first term on the bipartisan First Step Act, the landmark criminal-justice reform legislation signed by Trump in 2018. According to current reporting, the two men have remained in contact since then.

There’s also the elephant lumbering around the room wearing a 2026 MIDTERMS T-shirt.

If Democrats capture the House in November, Jeffries would be positioned to become Speaker. The Trump White House would suddenly need somebody capable of communicating with the Democratic leader if it hopes to pass legislation during the final two years of Trump’s presidency.

Jeffries isn’t denying that cooperation is possible. In a statement responding to the reports, he said Democrats are prepared to pursue “bold, transformational change” on affordability and other issues while accusing Republicans of governing through a “my way or the highway” approach.

The Associated Press reports that the Kushner-Jeffries conversation included the cost of living, housing and immigration — precisely the sort of issues where divided government could force some negotiation next year. And that’s what makes the progressive outrage so revealing. For years we’ve been told that Washington needs more bipartisan dialogue.

Then the Democratic leader quietly sits down with somebody in Trump’s orbit to discuss whether there is anything the two sides can accomplish together. The Resistance promptly demands his head.

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