Aug 23, 2022 - Politics & Policy

Kushner's memoir: Insider details on Abraham Accords and family separation

Mike Allen, author of Axios AM

Jared Kushner writes in "Breaking History," his memoir out today, that then-President Trump said ahead of a 2017 summit in Saudi Arabia: "Jared, this schedule is inhumane. You know you aren't in my will. Why are you trying to kill me?"

Why it matters: Kushner's wife, Ivanka Trump, of course is in the will.

The behind-the-scenes nugget is part of Kushner's account of his four years as one of the most powerful West Wing officials, culminating with the 2020 signing of the Abraham Accords, which Trump called "the dawn of a new Middle East."

Details: In Chapter 22, "No Time for Triumph," Kushner writes that in June 2018, he traveled to Israel to discuss his Middle East plan with then-Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu:

But shortly after I landed, Ivanka called me with an urgent update. ... Two months earlier, on April 6, Attorney General Jeff Sessions had issued a press release announcing that he would enforce immigration law with a "zero-tolerance policy" against immigrants who crossed the southern border illegally."

It took about six weeks for the ramifications of [the] policy to filter into the press," Kushner continues. "During that period, DHS separated 2,816 children from their parents or guardians."

"When Trump saw the breaking headlines, he quizzed his team about ... what could be done to end child separation. ... Ivanka ... felt that the president wasn't being well served" by his staff.
"She went to see her father in the Executive Residence and handed him" a draft executive order ending the policy.

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