House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., recently met privately with Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and informal adviser, and they discussed possible areas of cooperation, a source familiar with the meeting confirmed to NBC News.
The private meeting, which was first reported by The New York Times, took place in Manhattan, the source said.
The meeting was an unusual instance of a top Democrat and a close Trump confidant coming together to discuss common ground. Jeffries, the top Democrat in the House, is one of Trump’s most prominent critics. Meanwhile, Kushner is a close relative of Trump’s and has taken on a slate of high-profile foreign policy issues as special envoy.
The source, who was granted anonymity without being authorized to speak about the private meeting, did not share details about when it took place or what was discussed.
The Times reported that it happened “in recent weeks,” citing five sources with knowledge of the meeting. The Times also reported that the pair discussed “housing, immigration and the high cost of living,” citing two sources with knowledge of the meeting. The meeting space in New York was “offered up by a mutual friend of the two men,” the newspaper reported, citing two people with knowledge of the meeting and a third who was briefed on it.
Jeffries said in a statement Sunday that Republicans have adopted a “my-way-or-the-highway approach” that he said Democrats have made it clear “will not work and will be met with forceful opposition.”
“In every conversation that we have with the Trump administration, we will continue to make it explicitly clear that the affordability crisis is not a hoax and nothing short of transformational policy change is acceptable. We are fighting for an affordable America. The question is whether Republicans will join us,” Jeffries said.
The White House did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment on the meeting.
Despite their different policy perspectives, Jeffries and Kushner previously joined forces to champion a criminal justice reform bill during Trump’s first term. Kushner championed the bill, which Jeffries signed on to as a co-sponsor, giving it a bipartisan boost. The legislation, dubbed the First Step Act, was signed into law in 2018.
The recent meeting, though, comes as both parties are entering the final stretch of the campaign season before midterm elections, when Democrats hope to flip the House and the Senate. If Democrats flip even a single chamber, it could significantly stymie any future legislative initiatives from the administration.
If Democrats take back the House majority in November, Jeffries is the favorite to become the next speaker. He has predicted victory in the midterm elections, and he and his committee leaders have vowed to conduct aggressive oversight of the Trump administration on a range of issues, including ICE tactics, Trump’s Qatari-donated jet, his family business dealings and the White House ballroom.
Kushner remains a close confidant of Trump. He was a senior adviser in the White House during Trump’s first term, and he is currently special envoy for peace missions, focused largely on the Middle East and the Russia-Ukraine war, along with another special envoy, Steve Witkoff.
