My view: This isn't for America, it's for Jared to get on the job training. The Editor of the Mother Jones says, "Well this seems like a recipe for kleptocracy on a gargantuan scale".
Every day Trump comes up with something more outlandish to consolidate power to run this country in his family.
Tech Crunch:
The new office headed by Kushner will report directly to his father-in-law and will be staffed by members of the business community and advised by the heads of several large technology and manufacturing companies including Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook, Elon Musk from Tesla and SpaceX, Marc Benioff from Salesforce, and Bill Gates, the former chief executive of Microsoft, and Ginni Rometty, the chief executive of IBM.
....In all of these instances, it’s important to highlight that new contracts and potential wholesale privatization of government services may be at stake. And will be headed by the President’s son-in-law.
Chris Christie (who prosecuted and convicted Jared's father and asked for a prison sentence) and Kushner team up on controlling opiates. And don't forget the Trump Princess: "Ivanka will collaborate with the innovation office on issues such as workforce development." You bet she intends to have her name on it, here's her first tweet about it.
Factoid of the day, from Nate Silver:
Trump got elected with only 41% of the women's vote, which is likely the smallest share since women's suffrage. Here's the data since 1952.
The House Intelligence Committee wants to question Kushner about two alleged meetings with Russian agents before the inauguration
The first took place with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, alongside ousted national security adviser Michael Flynn, at Trump Tower.
The second was a previously undisclosed meeting between Kushner and Sergey Gorkov, the head of Russia’s state-owned Vnesheconombank, which has been under sanctions since the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
White House spokeswoman Hope Hicks confirmed both meetings, telling the Times that nothing of consequence was discussed and that the meetings went nowhere
Kushner met with Russian banker Sergey Gorkov, the chief of Vnesheconombank -- the bank that hosted a spy ring investigated by DOJ,
The state-owned development bank was placed on the U.S. sanctions list after Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea and began meddling in Ukraine politics.
Vnesheconombank also hosted a spy ring at its New York City offices, according to U.S. investigators.
Kushner is the 7th Trump Associate with alleged questionable over ties to Russia.
And the coup d'detat re: Kushner: According to Bloomberg news (no link due to autoplay video):
The Manhattan tower co-owned by the family of Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law, has been losing money for three years and faces increasing loan fees in 2017, which may explain why the family has been negotiating with Chinese insurance behemoth Anbang on new financing.
..."It is an understatement to say this building is not doing well," said Joshua Stein, a New York real estate lawyer, after reviewing its financials and the refinancing agreement. "People forget that not all real estate investments succeed. But people also forget that failing real estate investments are sometimes successfully turned around."
...A spokesman for Jared Kushner says he sold his stake in 666 Fifth Avenue to family members in order to join the White House staff and comply with conflict-of-interest laws.
I saw this on Twitter referencing today's Kushner story (can't remember who posted it, I added the caption):