You Should Watch The Axios Interview With Jared Kushner; It May Be His Last

Jared Kushner granted a rare television interview and judging by his responses to questions from Axios’s Jonathan Swan, it’s clear why he doesn’t do many of these. Kushner, son-in-law of Donald Trump and presidential adviser, didn’t want to give his opinion on much of anything, dodged several questions and often just answered, “I don’t know.” Here’s one example of an exchange where he was asked about an email that was “an offer of help for the Trump campaign from the Russian government.” He called the gathering a “clown show,” but said he didn’t know what the meeting was about.

As here’s how he answered a question on whether Trump has exhibited any racist behavior.

One of Kushner’s biggest tasks as a White House advisor is working with the Middle East. Here’s how he talked about his relationship with Palestinians.

One of the more mind-boggling responses came when Swan asked about the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Axios writes:

Asked whether he would join Khashoggi’s fiancée in calling on the Saudi government to release his body (or identify where they put the body parts) so that his family might bury him, Kushner said: “Look, it’s a horrific thing that happened. … Once we have all the facts, then we’ll make a policy determination, but that would be up to the Secretary of State to push on our policy.”

But as Axios points out that determination has already been made, “the CIA reportedly determined with a high degree of confidence that MBS ordered the murder, and the U.S. Senate unanimously declared that he was responsible.”

Slate called the interview “cringeworthy,” saying “Kusher fell flat on his face…. He doesn’t know anything and he believes even less.”  

But Swan is getting high marks for the interview. NPR media analyst Eric Deggans wrote, “Jonathan Swan gave a master class on interviewing in this piece; he was prepared, respectful, but insistent and ready for any evasion.”

Watch the full interview on HBO on Demand.