President Trump reportedly wants daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner to move back to New York.
Vanity Fair reports that the president is concerned that the couple are being hit with too much negative press from the Russia investigation.
Three people who have spoken to the president say he’s asked Jared and Ivanka to go home.
‘He keeps pressuring them to go,’ one source close to Jared told the magazine.
But the reason for sending the couple back to Big Apple could be two-fold because they no longer have much to do at the White House.
Vanity Fair’s Gabriel Sherman spoke with a half dozen Trump advisers, current and former West Wing officials and Republicans close to the administration who revealed that Chief of Staff John Kelly has significantly reduced Jared’s role.
‘Kelly has clipped his wings,’ one high-level Republican close to the White House told the magazine.
Vanity Fair reports that President Trump has asked daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner to return to New York. The couple pictured with their two eldest children at the Turkey pardon on Tuesday
Sources also told the magazine that Jared’s (left) role in the White House has been significantly reduced since John Kelly (right) became chief of staff
When Kelly was appointed to the role in July, he sought to rein the president in, ending the Oval Office’s open door policy for Jared.
He also hacked away at Jared’s responsibilities in the administration, which at one point included restructuring the government, reforming the VA, ending the opioid epidemic, nurturing a relationship with China and brokering peace in the Middle East.
Under Kelly, Jared is now mainly focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
And two people who spoke to Sherman said that even there he is disappointing Kelly.
Kelly was apparently upset with Jared’s trip to Saudia Arabia last month, which happened just days before 32-year-old Prince Alwaleed bin Talal arrested 11 royals.
Bin Talal said that the arrests were for corruption but others say it was a power grab for the king-in-waiting.
During Jared’s trip, the two stayed up to nearly 4am ‘planning strategy’ which Kelly thought gave the impression that the administration not only knew about the purge beforehand, but might have had helped plan it. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has denied this.
And it’s not just Kelly that’s been let down by Jared. Even the president has expressed displeasure with his son-in-law’s political advice, according to Republicans who have spoken to Trump.
That advice reportedly includes firing FBI Director James Comey (which Jared denies) and backing losing Alabama GOP candidate Luther Strange (though it saved Trump from initially endorsing the now-controversial Roy Moore).
Sending Jared away may be Trump’s way of trying to downplay the Russia investigation, as it nears closer to the White House.
Last week, the Senate revealed that Jared had not turned over emails relating to Wikileaks, something his attorney denies.
But Jared has reportedly been left unnerved by the indictments of Paul Manafort and Rick Gates.
‘Do you think they’ll get the president?’ Jared asked a friend, according to a person briefed on the conversation who spoke to Vanity Fair.