House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., recently met privately with Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and informal adviser, where 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 marked 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 the most prominent critics of the president. Meanwhile, Kushner is both a close family member of the president and has taken on a slate of high-profile foreign policy issues while serving as special envoy.
The source, who was granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the private meeting, did not share details about when it took place or what was discussed.
The New York Times reported that the meeting 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 outlet reported, citing two people with knowledge of the meeting and a third who was briefed on it.
Jeffries in a statement Sunday said that Republicans have adopted a “my-way-or-the-highway approach” that Jeffries says Democrats have made 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 have previously joined forces to champion a criminal justice reform bill during the president’s first term. Kushner championed the bill, which Jeffries signed on to as a co-sponsor, giving the legislation 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 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 Immigration and Customs Enforcement tactics, the president’s Qatari-gifted jet, family business dealings and the White House ballroom.
Kushner remains a close confidant of Trump. He served as a senior adviser in the White House during Trump’s first term, and he currently serves as special envoy for peace missions, focused largely on the Middle East and the Russia-Ukraine war, along with another special envoy, Steve Witkoff.
