Donald Trump made a carefully coordinated speech at Historically Black College, Benedict College yesterday. According to USA Today, only 7 students from the college were able to attend the event. The other students were reportedly told to stay in their dorms.
The main topic of the President’s speech was his First Step Act. The criminal justice reform bill was heavily pushed by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. During the event, the President lauded his key adviser and said that Kushner, “could be a liberal.”
Trump told the audience, “I think I was telling [Senator] Tim [Scott] before and I pulled [Senator] Lindsey [Graham] aside and I said, ‘You know, I think he’s a liberal. He could be a liberal.”
The President continued to talk about the bill, then spoke directly to his son-in-law. “And we got it done, right Jared,” Trump asked. “We called a couple of folks that people didn’t think would come along and they were incredible once they understood what we were doing.”
The strange aspect of Trump’s compliment was that Kushner was a long-time Democrat. The Trump Adviser only changed his party affiliation to Republican prior to the 2018 midterm elections.
Kushner and his wife, Ivanka, donated money to a number of liberal candidates including Kirsten Gillibrand and Kamala Harris.
The duo even held a fundraiser for Democratic senator Cory Booker. Booker said of the event, “Listen, I wouldn’t take a dime from them now, but this was a time when they were Democrats. I mean, they were supporting Hillary Clinton, uh, and the Kushner family were big New Jersey Democrats, and really helped to fight against [Republican Governor] Chris Christie and a lot of other folks.”