BREAKING NEWS

Kushner offered for consideration as chief of staff by Trump advisers

By REUTERS

DECEMBER 14, 2018 02:19

President Donald Trump has been hearing appeals from some advisers to consider his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner for the position of White House chief of staff, two sources familiar with the situation said on Thursday.

One of the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Kushner is currently not inclined to pursue the position.

Trump said on Thursday he considering as many as five people for the chief of staff position to fill the vacancy that will be left when his current chief, retired General John Kelly, leaves the job early in the new year.

The source said that over the last few days "numerous people have reached out to the president to suggest" picking Kushner on the thinking that he is close to the president and has had a number of successes, including helping negotiate a new trade agreement with Mexico and Canada and advancing prison reform legislation.

"I'm not aware that he's under consideration," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters. "But as I think all of us here would recognize, he will be great in any role that the president chooses to put him in."

"He has done a tremendous job on a number of fronts, whether it was on trade or what we've seen play out over the last week on criminal justice reform. He's done a great job on all those efforts," Sanders said.

Those urging Trump to consider Kushner include some of the president's outsider advisers as well as some administration officials, the source said.

"It's possible that this is why this is appearing at this moment in time, especially because what everyone knows you need is someone who has a good relationship with the president," the source said.

But Kushner is happy with the work he is doing. "He's not currently inclined to pursue it," the source said.

Kushner, and his wife, Ivanka Trump, had been advocating on behalf of Nick Ayers, the chief of staff for Vice President Mike Pence. But Ayers turned down an offer for the position last weekend because he could not commit to the full two-year period that Trump wanted.

One Trump confidant, who asked to remain unidentified, said Trump should just pick his son-in-law.

"You want consistency, knowing he'll be here for two more years, just name Jared and let him do it the way he wants," the confidant told Reuters.

Another potential chief of staff pick, former campaign adviser David Bossie, was at the White House for meetings on Thursday, but was not believed to have met with the president.

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