Jared Kushner helps Trump pave rare bipartisan path to big win.
Thursday’s roundtable at President Trump’s summer White House in New Jersey to address prison and sentencing reform with governor’s is the latest bid by top aide Jared Kushner to give his father-in-law a rare bipartisan victory on a once controversial issue.
In getting Trump to carve out part of his working vacation at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., Kushner and other officials are hoping to demonstrate how important the issues are to the president as he works to get a Senate vote in the next month.
Trump’s meeting this afternoon with governors, state attorneys general, and top aides is the latest in which he will endorse prison reform and he is also expected to open the door to sentencing reform, a sign to key senators that he is ready for a deal. . . .
Not only has former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist joined in, but so have liberals like former Obama aide Van Jones and influential social media figures like Kim Kardashian have backed the president.
With Kushner’s urging, others involved include Koch Industries, former Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint and Right On Crime’s Craig DeRoche.
“It’s important the president is open to limited sentencing reform being added to the prison reform legislation being considered in the Senate,” said Gingrich. “The guilty must be held to account, and it is our responsibility to ensure the punishment fits the crime. Certain sentencing statutes have not performed as intended, have led to unjust consequences, and should be eliminated. Adding such provisions to the First Step Act is just common sense,” he added.
Kushner has also brought in prominent religious figures and pastors and he NAACP.
“Jared has the ability to go into ‘no-go’ zones for Republicans,” said an ally, noting that the Trump family member doesn’t stick to any partisan angle when he is trying to nail down a victory for the White House.
I had some related thoughts here.
h/t GR