# Jared Kushner: Close to the Russia, Pushed for Firing Comey
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-kushner-close-to-the-russia-pushed-for-firing-comey/787450
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [May 25, 2017, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-kushner-close-to-the-russia-pushed-for-firing-comey/787450 "2017-05-25T23:33:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2017, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-kushner-close-to-the-russia-pushed-for-firing-comey/787450/1 "2017-05-25T23:33:58Z")
**Meet the Real Jared Kushner**
> [@](#):
>
> It was Kushner who reportedly pushed for the firing of FBI director James Comey over the objections of Bannon. And it was Kushner who was the lone voice urging for a counterattack after deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein announced the appointment of a special prosecutor, according to the New York Times. And it is now Kushner whose family’s business activities leave him open to the same level of charges of conflict of interest that have dogged his wife and father-in-law, and Kushner who appears to be as closely tied to the Russian government as anyone serving in the White House: NBC News and the Washington Post reported Thursday that the FBI is taking a close look at his contacts with the Russians.
[http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/05/25/jared-kushner-russia-fbi-donald-trump-215191](http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/05/25/jared-kushner-russia-fbi-donald-trump-215191)
Huh? And I thought Kushner was one of the most reasonable people working in the White House.
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### Author:  [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2017, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-kushner-close-to-the-russia-pushed-for-firing-comey/787450/2 "2017-05-25T23:37:32Z")
Sane doesn’t mean not corrupt.
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### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2017, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-kushner-close-to-the-russia-pushed-for-firing-comey/787450/3 "2017-05-25T23:38:08Z")
> [@PastTense](#):
>
> **Meet the Real Jared Kushner**
>
> [http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/05/25/jared-kushner-russia-fbi-donald-trump-215191](http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/05/25/jared-kushner-russia-fbi-donald-trump-215191)
>
> Huh? And I thought Kushner was one of the most reasonable people working in the White House.
Oh dear Og no.
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-kushner-close-to-the-russia-pushed-for-firing-comey/787450/4 "2017-05-26T02:08:19Z")
I hope the FBI finds so much dirt, that the House has no choice but to start impeachment proceedings and send that whole gang running to Florida. Nepotism at its worst, even though Kushner and Ivanka hold no official titles.
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### Author:  [@ganthet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ganthet)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-kushner-close-to-the-russia-pushed-for-firing-comey/787450/5 "2017-05-26T02:34:53Z")
> [@cochrane](#):
>
> Nepotism at its worst, even though Kushner and Ivanka hold no official titles.
Both have [official titles](http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/326400-ivanka-trump-will-have-an-official-white-house-position) as advisors to the president, which include offices in the West Wing, government phones, computers, etc. They are both unpaid, however, to avoid federal nepotism laws.
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### Author:  [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-kushner-close-to-the-russia-pushed-for-firing-comey/787450/6 "2017-05-26T07:22:43Z")
> [@PastTense](#):
>
> Huh? And I thought Kushner was one of the most reasonable people working in the White House.
He’s more reasonable in the sense that he’s not known to have been a creature of the insane fringe fever swamps. That doesn’t make the rest of him good, though.
(And if he and his weren’t the prettiest people in the White House, IMO they never would have gotten all that glossy coverage in the first place.)
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### Author:  [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-kushner-close-to-the-russia-pushed-for-firing-comey/787450/7 "2017-05-26T07:51:49Z")
You can add [slumlord](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/23/magazine/jared-kushners-other-real-estate-empire.html?smid=fb-share)to your list as well.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-kushner-close-to-the-russia-pushed-for-firing-comey/787450/8 "2017-05-26T11:30:34Z")
> [@lisiate](#):
>
> You can add [slumlord](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/23/magazine/jared-kushners-other-real-estate-empire.html?smid=fb-share)to your list as well.
I named him a quasi-Guardians of the Galaxy character “Slum Lord” in this:
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=826401](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=826401)
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### Author:  [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-kushner-close-to-the-russia-pushed-for-firing-comey/787450/9 "2017-05-26T13:29:25Z")
> [@lisiate](#):
>
> You can add [slumlord](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/23/magazine/jared-kushners-other-real-estate-empire.html?smid=fb-share)to your list as well.
For anyone who’s used up their 10 free NYT reads for the month, here’s a [ProPublica story](https://www.propublica.org/article/the-beleaguered-tenants-of-kushnerville) covering the same ground.
What a total scum, to be as rich as he is, and be shaking poor people down for their last pennies.
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### Author:  [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-kushner-close-to-the-russia-pushed-for-firing-comey/787450/10 "2017-05-26T13:32:39Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#):
>
> Oh dear Og no.
Oh, I think he may be the most sane person in the White House. In the same way that li’l Jonas is the strongest toddler in his kindergarten class. He can lift a bag of flour by himself!
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### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-kushner-close-to-the-russia-pushed-for-firing-comey/787450/11 "2017-05-26T18:40:15Z")
I believe that he was a registered Democrat as well.
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### Author:  [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-kushner-close-to-the-russia-pushed-for-firing-comey/787450/12 "2017-05-26T19:34:21Z")
Actually I would suspect he would be making substantial financial contributions to members of both political parties. I believe it is very common for developers to do this.
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### Author:  [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-kushner-close-to-the-russia-pushed-for-firing-comey/787450/13 "2017-05-26T19:49:30Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#):
>
> What a total scum, to be as rich as he is, and be shaking poor people down for their last pennies.
Well, that’s how you become as rich as he is. Why do you hate capitalism ?!
(“Behind every great fortune, there is a great crime.” - Balzac. More often than not, the crime’s ongoing.)
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### Author:  [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-kushner-close-to-the-russia-pushed-for-firing-comey/787450/14 "2017-05-26T19:57:20Z")
And possibly more damaging to the Trump Presidency than anything Kushner may have _done_, is all that Kushner will have _seen and heard_.
Shortly Kushner will be faced with the choice of whether or not to try to lie under oath about all he’s seen and heard–not knowing what his questioners know (and thus will be able to detect as a lie-under-oath).
Will Jared sacrifice himself–make himself liable to years in a federal pen by lying under oath–in order to save his wife’s father?
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-kushner-close-to-the-russia-pushed-for-firing-comey/787450/15 "2017-05-26T20:02:53Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#):
>
> Will Jared sacrifice himself–make himself liable to years in a federal pen by lying under oath–in order to save his wife’s father?
Or will his address be the same as Jimmy Hoffa?
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### Author:  [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-kushner-close-to-the-russia-pushed-for-firing-comey/787450/16 "2017-05-26T20:06:49Z")
I’ve actually been rather surprised at the continued existence of quite a few Americans who have the potential to harm Trump, given how effusive Trump has been in his admiration of dictators who murder people (Putin, Kim Jong Un, the Philippines’ Duterte, etc.)
(Better hire an extra bodyguard, Jared.)
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-kushner-close-to-the-russia-pushed-for-firing-comey/787450/17 "2017-05-26T20:10:41Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#):
>
> (Better hire an extra bodyguard, Jared.)
Perhaps there is a list that gets mailed if he doesn’t call a certain phone number every evening.
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### Author:  [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-kushner-close-to-the-russia-pushed-for-firing-comey/787450/18 "2017-05-26T22:37:09Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> Perhaps there is a list that gets mailed if he doesn’t call a certain phone number every evening.
That _is_ the smart move. (But didn’t I read somewhere that Jared failed the SATs and got into Harvard only because his father pledged it $2.5 million…???)
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### Author:  [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-kushner-close-to-the-russia-pushed-for-firing-comey/787450/19 "2017-05-26T22:44:46Z")
The Politico story smelled like a hit piece. I would be careful about beleving anything coming from anonymous sources and leaks from the white house - this could be a smear job orchestrated by the Bannon faction. I noticed that Bannon came out looking pretty good in at least one of those stories.
It’s not uncommon for rival factions in politics to wage war againt each other through selective leaks to the media, and Trump’s administration has plenty of factions within it.
That’s one of the problems with anonymous sourcing. Without knowing who the sources are, it’s impossible to know the context behind the leaks or the motivations of those doing the leaking.
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### Author:  [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2017, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jared-kushner-close-to-the-russia-pushed-for-firing-comey/787450/20 "2017-05-26T23:07:08Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> Or will his address be the same as Jimmy Hoffa?
There’s already a sinkhole forming out in front of [Mir-a-Lago](http://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/a9915471/sinkhole-at-mar-a-lago/).
(Hell hath no fury like a Putin scorned…)
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