Ten Weeks Before the Midterms, Hakeem Jeffries Met Privately With Jared Kushner — and Told the Left That "No One From the Trump Cartel Is Getting a Pass"

August 26, 2026

The New York Times reported on Sunday, August 23, 2026 that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries had met privately with Jared Kushner in New York, in space lent by a mutual acquaintance, to look for common ground with the White House on housing, immigration and the cost of living. Kushner requested the meeting and suggested Jeffries follow up with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. The reaction inside the Democratic Party was immediate and split. Members and aides questioned why the man who would be Speaker if Democrats take the House in November was sitting down with a presidential son-in-law who holds no formal position in the administration and whom House Democrats have said they intend to investigate. Jeffries answered in a video posted Monday evening and in a written statement to TIME, insisting the affordability crisis "is not a hoax" and that "no one is going to get a pass." Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) waved the meeting off on Fox News, saying Kushner is "not really directly involved" in the administration day to day. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) said on Meet the Press he had no objection to the meeting itself but wanted to see something come of it. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, asked at a Monday press conference whether the meeting changed his view, kept his backing for Jeffries — and drew criticism from progressives for it. The episode is the latest flashpoint between Jeffries and his party's left flank ahead of a November election that could hand him the Speaker's gavel and, with it, the decision on whether to impeach Trump.