Jared Kushner met privately with the Democrat poised to become Speaker of the House to foster a working relationship ahead of the midterm elections.
Donald Trump’s son-in-law met Rep. Hakeem Jeffries inside a mutual friend’s New York City apartment, where they discussed immigration, housing, and affordability issues, the New York Times reported on Sunday.
The meeting between the two men comes as Republicans increasingly brace for a blue wave in November’s midterm elections, as the president’s approval ratings plummet to record lows.
While Kushner, 45, does not serve the White House in an official capacity, Trump has frequently leaned on the billionaire businessman in brokering deals between other countries, including Israel’s war on Gaza and efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war. Additionally, when Kushner was a senior adviser during Trump’s first term, he and Jeffries worked together on a criminal justice bill and have remained in touch since then, one person told the Times.
The private efforts to collaborate with Democrats stand in stark contrast to what the Trump administration fronts publicly. The 80-year-old president has refused to sign a bipartisan housing bill and has falsely decried Democrats as “communists,” calling the prospect of them winning the House “the biggest threat to our country, including World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor, September 11th,” last month.
Behind closed doors, the president appears to be preparing himself for that very prospect. In fact, Kushner reportedly floated the idea that Jeffries meet with Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, the Times reported.
At the same time, Trump has dialed down his personal attacks on Jeffries as the midterms have drawn closer, telling Punchbowl News that he thinks the New York congressman is “a nice guy” and that he would “probably get along with…very well.” He also pointed to a meeting he had with Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in the fall, which was convened in an effort to avert a government shutdown.
The sudden charm offensive marks a striking shift from earlier this year, when Trump fired off a Truth Social post depicting Jeffries holding a baseball bat and branding him “Low IQ” and a “thug.”
“Hakeem Jeffries, a Low IQ individual, said our Supreme Court is ‘illegitimate.’ After saying such a thing, isn’t he subject to Impeachment? I got impeached for A PERFECT PHONE CALL. Where are you Republicans? Why not get it started? They’ll be doing this to me!” Trump wrote at the time.
Trump also posted an AI video depicting Jeffries in a sombrero, which Jeffries branded “racist.” Jeffries also responded by resharing the president’s Truth Social post on X with the caption “Jeffries Derangement Syndrome”—a playful riff on the “Trump Derangement Syndrome” phrase long deployed by the president and his supporters.
Now, Jeffries, too, has not explicitly ruled out working with, rather than against, the Trump administration. Jeffries and Kushner did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the meeting from the Daily Beast. But in a statement to the Times, Jeffries appeared open to the possibility of collaboration should Democrats retake the House in November.
“Throughout this Congress, Republicans have adopted a my-way-or-the-highway approach to governing that has failed the American people,” he said.
“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.”
