Jared Kushner's Imprint In History
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Well, welcome to the Jason in the House podcast. I'm Jason Chaffetz, and thanks for joining us. So we've got a very special guest today. We're going to talk to Jared Kushner. He wrote a book called Breaking History. He certainly, his proximity to history with Donald Trump is second to none. So we look forward to having a conversation with him. Somebody I actually got to know when he was there.

in the White House, but glad he's going to be joining us today. We're going to highlight the stupid because, you know, there's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere. And then we're going to, like I said, have this discussion with Jared Kushner. But let's kick things off by talking about a few things in the news that are, I just think, noteworthy, things that we should all be concerned about. So it's been more than 200 days now since Joe Biden has actually sat down for an interview.

Think about that. On the one hand, people said they didn't like the drama of Donald Trump and all that. But what you did give to him, what you have to cite with him, is how open and transparent he was. Because every time you turned around, every time he went out to the helicopter, did that sort of thing, he was there and answering questions. And not just answering one or two questions, but answering them in depth. And he was sitting down

with people that had been traditionally adverse to his positions and answered their questions for long periods of time. So for this president, Joe Biden, to not do an interview is very much like he was when he was running for office, right? He sat in that basement, didn't answer questions, didn't participate. They had to cancel a debate. And I don't think it was a healthy part of our process.

If you're going to be the president of the United States with your finger on the nuclear bomb, you better be able to answer some questions from some reporter out there. But we just haven't seen that with Joe Biden, and I think it's wrong. The other thing that's still bothering me, there was all this news about what's going on in Mar-a-Lago and Donald Trump and what's going on with documents.

I think that's in large part a large distraction from what the Democrats are doing overall. But I guess what bothers me is somebody who served in Congress for eight and a half years was on the Judiciary Committee and the Oversight Committee, and I was the chairman of the Oversight Committee for a period there.

is how different the Department of Justice was in how they dealt with documents that we were seeking in Congress, sensitive documents, some of them highly classified documents, some of them sensitive documents. I'm talking about documents from organizations like the IRS or the State Department or Hillary Clinton herself.

who conveniently set up her own server on the very day she started her, the very same day, the very same day that she started her confirmation process to become the Secretary of State. Guess what? They set up a server in her home, I think, to bypass the Federal Records Act. Now, James Comey came by later and said, well, no reasonable prosecutor would go after her for that. And it

You have to look at intent, and there was no intent to bypass the Federal Records Act. Yeah, that's why they set up a server in our own home, unbeknownst to the department. But how differently they dealt with this, because these documents at the IRS, at the State Department, generated by the Secretary of State, these were under subpoena.

Not only were these documents not provided to the committee for review, because those documents are generated and owned by all of us, but these people destroyed these documents. I mean, we had inspectors general from the intelligence community, the IG from what's called TIGDA that goes after and looks at what goes on at the IRS.

and others that looked at this situation and found that there was highly sensitive information that was destroyed after subpoenas were issued. Did they come in with guns a-blazin' and raid places to go find this? No, they didn't do any of that. In fact, in the case of the State Department, the Department of Justice issued immunity agreements. And some of those, the five immunity agreements that I'm aware of,

had no requirement, no stipulation that those people who got an immunity agreement cooperate with the government. Now, why would you hand out an immunity agreement if there's no cooperation clause in there? And it made no sense. And so I guess what bothers me and why so many conservatives and Republicans are concerned about this department, the current Department of Justice,

And it's apparent political bias is how differently Lady Justice is applying what they're doing to Donald Trump with how they applied doing all these things with Clintons, Bidens, the IRS. We didn't even talk about Hunter Biden at this point. So I think you can see the frustration and the difference the way this has been handled. Another thing that's in the news that I'm very concerned about is

This comes from Foxbusiness.com. I saw this, that the National Energy Assistance Directors Association -- I'm sure everybody's very cognizant of that organization -- said that more than 20 million U.S. families are behind in their utility bills. Mark Wolf, who's the director of this organization, believes these numbers are historic.

If that's a key indicator about where we're going with the economy, what's happening with energy and energy prices, it is a startling number. These numbers are

astronomical and they ought to be a key indicator for everybody to wake up that says, you know what? We need energy in this country that is affordable, that is readily available. And you start to hear these stories now about having to do these brownouts in California and the other problems that

Yeah, it's great. You all go green and woke, and you all say that the Green New Deal is awesome, but then there's the reality that sets in about having electricity and being able to fuel your car and be able to operate in an economy. We're going to have to do a little bit better than Fred Flintstone was doing, but you know what? At some point...

I do think that these radical environmentalists are going to have to come to grips with the idea that, you know what, nuclear energy is actually the cleanest energy that we know of. And yet we aren't building new nuclear power plants.

Because those policies are shutting those types of things down. So, but again, a stunning number. The other thing I wanted to mention, and I got a long list today, but the New York City Police Department, they're searching for a suspect who robbed $250 from a man in a wheelchair while riding a Staten Island bus earlier this month. And I got to tell you, every single day, it seems like almost every hour we hear and see these stories. Now, crime happens in America.

But what doesn't happen is the priority is not given to the victims. So suddenly, Joe Biden and the Democrats, I think having seen poll numbers and focus groups, are starting to realize that, hey, guess what? We got to be tough on crime. And yet that message does not ring true when you have an open and porous border, when you have the head of the Border Patrol saying, look, there are no consequences for coming here illegally.

And then trying to go up to Pennsylvania and say, oh, hey, we're going to get tough on crime. And, you know, we want to make sure that we're pro funding. Well, that's not what Kamala Harris was doing two years ago when she was raising money to bail people out of jail as quickly as possible. When you had so many Democrats working to defund police departments, when New York City

got rid of its undercover police officers when they stripped out a billion dollars in their funding. Guess what? Then you have these guys in a wheelchair being stolen, you know, having been robbed for $250. And it's just sick and it's disgusting and it's avoidable. And it's a huge contrast to where we've been.

You know, I love New York City. I come here to work with Fox and I love the city. My wife and I have come. My kids brought my kids along. Not anymore. Not right now because it's too dangerous. It's filthy. It's disgusting. And it doesn't need to be that way. The city is great. It's wonderful. It's a great place to visit and have fun and go see a show. But now it doesn't matter what time of day you try to go around and it's just different. This is very different.

All right. Last thing on the news that I wanted to mention is they're still working in Washington, D.C. You know what? Mayor Bowser, they're still trying to figure out what to deal with COVID-19 vaccine policy. You know, she's been rebuked by a judge, but they were trying to implement a policy where students over the age of 12.

who've received a coronavirus vaccine, they needed to demonstrate that they had that vaccine in order to participate in school. Well, the problem is in some categories, nearly 50% of the students have not gotten that vaccine. And so they said there's gonna be no remote learning. School is starting. They don't have the vaccine. And now Washington DC has put themselves in their own box.

Again, the suppression on kids and learning, especially now at this time with COVID, I just think they have their priorities and their policies totally, totally wrong. So lots happening in the news, even though, you know, we're just coming out of Labor Day and everybody's getting focused. But getting back to school is a big part of it. All right. Time to bring on the stupid, because you know what? There's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere.

All right, I got two here, two for your consideration. One is Euphoria star Sydney Sweeney. She was excited. She shared this whole thing, I guess, online. I'm not really a fan. I've never really seen her out there. But she was a little shocked because her mother had a surprise hoedown for her 60th birthday.

But when the pictures got out of what was going on at this, they were totally slammed. Now, the big gaffe that the mom made evidently was that they were wearing like MAGA hats that said, make 60 great again.

And here's Sweeney. Sidney Sweeney had to come back and say, come on, you guys, quote, you guys, this is wild. An innocent celebration for my mom's milestone 60th birthday has turned into an absurd political statement, end quote.

Yeah, welcome to the real world where this is going on, where those on the woke left get so triggered by somebody who might have a MAGA hat or a reference to that. My goodness, the party that tries to advocate and says they're the most tolerant,

ends up being the least tolerant. And this 24-year-old actress, I think, is getting a quick lesson in how that turns. For her mom's just having her 60th birthday. So to Sidney Sweeney's mom, happy, happy birthday. All right, the second one, the White House won't say if President Biden regrets taking nearly $1 million over three years from the University of Pennsylvania. Now, the president was hired by the University of Pennsylvania, right?

For a gig that involved no teaching, no courses, and had to show up to about a dozen different events. A million dollars. And now you're wondering why the cost of tuition is so high. You want to give out literally hundreds of billions of dollars in loan forgiveness, but

But the president's over at the University of Pennsylvania taking a million dollars and putting it in his own pocket. Now, he's not doing that now as president. He was a private citizen at the time. But I don't know. I think the hypocrisy there is pretty self-evident. And that's bringing on the stupid. Time to phone up Jared Kushner. I honored that I would get him on the phone and...

And I hope he answers the phone. But I first met Jared when he was there working in the White House. And I want to ask him, talk to him about that. So let's dial up Jared Kushner. Hello, this is Jared. Hey, Jared, Jason Chaffetz. Thanks so much for joining me on the Jason in the House podcast. I do appreciate it. Thanks for having me, Jason. Great to be with you. Oh, no. Hey, listen, congratulations on your book. This this breaking history book is like breaking Amazon because it's

you, it's like sold out. I bet you don't ever see a book and like sold out at Amazon. And, um, but congratulations to you. I I've started reading it. I've started reading it, but I haven't gotten very far. Got it. Well, we, we, we were very surprised. I guess we thought we'd ship more than we needed to Amazon, but then we got a notice over the weekend that they, uh, that they'd sold out. So, uh, Harper did a great job getting them more copies quickly. So it's, it's back in stock and available, but, uh, but the very, very, uh,

surprised and pleased by the overwhelming response and that so many people have been buying it and reading it and getting tremendous feedback from it. So it's been really special for me. Well, I got to tell you, I'm a huge fan. I, when I was in Congress, somehow made connection with you. And the first time I met you, I came over there and we met in your office and I'm sure you don't remember this because, you know, things are going a million miles an hour.

And there was one point in the conversation, we were just a few minutes into it, and I said, "Can I make a suggestion?" And you had the best reaction, and you won't remember this, but I do.

You stood up and you closed the door and you said, listen, I came here to get stuff done. I didn't I'm not here to have some ceremonial job. I want to actually do a lot of things. And just your attitude, your approach, your, you know, roll up your shirt sleeves. Hey, let's get things done. I loved it.

Thank you. Well, we were very appreciative of you. Unfortunately, we only worked together for a short time, but I remember you came in, you were on the oversight at the time, and they started to scream at us for all kinds of things, which at first we thought were serious things. We later learned that it was just noise, but you came in, you were very constructive, you gave us some good advice. And part of what I write about in the book is how I came in, obviously, with that attitude as a private sector guy, I wanted to get things done, but

without Washington experience. So having the ability to interact with people like yourself and others who've been in Washington before, who also had a can-do results-oriented attitude was incredibly helpful in my learning curve towards getting things done.

Well, the noise and the distractions that must have been around you. I mean, the media almost on a moment by moment basis was throwing, you know, misdirection and accusations where you just got to scratch your head saying, where did they come up with this stuff? And all the noise that is Congress. How did how did you kind of where did you start and where did you end up in understanding how the media,

the morass, the, the, the problem that is DC and how it works. Right. So, so it's much different, much, much different than what,

I expected going in. And that's actually one of the reasons why I wrote the book was because people spend so much time either being angry about Washington, rooting for people in Washington, obsessing with Washington. You know, politics is almost like, like sports where everyone has a sense of how things could go better if only they do this or that. But Washington's much different than people think. And I wrote this book to try to give people, um,

a real insight into what it was like to be in the room with Congress and the White House, how things got done, how things didn't get done. And I felt like that was just a really important lesson that I learned. So again, very, very frustrating at first to see just that it's a different language, a different world.

But as I learned over the years, it actually is a place where you can get a tremendous amount of things done. And people obsessed over the Trump presidency and a lot of the coverage was on the investigations or the

controversy of the minute. But one thing that's undeniable is that President Trump got a lot of things done, whether it was peace deals in the Middle East, whether it was the biggest trade deal in history or the second biggest trade deal in history with China, which, again, people tried not to cover, whether it was bipartisan achievements like criminal justice reform or even Operation Warp Speed. And I wanted people to see how those things got done and

to focus on the different maneuvers, how they almost didn't happen. But I think it's a very interesting kind of behind the curtain look

into not only what happened with the Trump administration, but also into how Washington actually works. Yeah, I think one of the reasons Donald Trump triggered so many people is that he was highly effective, that he'd be willing to meet with anybody. He did know how to go get a deal done and was very willing to bend over backwards and do something that, gosh, quite frankly, most people over there in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue weren't willing to do. And that is...

call and engage and pick up the phone and invite people in. And it was very disarming, but it was also so different that it really threw people for a loop and they didn't know what to do with it. Right. Well, I always thought that Trump was a pragmatist, right? He's been on all sides of the political spectrum, but he's also lived a lot of

different chapters in his life. He knows a lot of people. He's seen a lot of things. And one thing that was very surprising to me about his critics is that they would always prefer to go on TV and virtue signal and criticize when he was always willing to meet with them. And you do have several examples, and I write about it in the book.

about how people who are very against President Trump would come in and go meet with him, they would get pillared by the media for crossing this line of trying to get things done. And I give the example of Kim Kardashian and Van Jones, and I detail those interactions and the grief that they both took for coming in. But ultimately, they got things done. And I think that Trump is somebody who can make a better argument, who changes his point of view. And I think that that

flexibility is a strength, not a weakness. And, you know, politicians are different than businessmen in the sense that for a businessman, the greater the stake of what you want to try to accomplish, the more risk calibrated risk you're willing to take. But for politicians, you

The higher you get and the more power you have, the more risk averse they usually become because if power is the end goal, then risking that power is something they don't want to do. And so Trump...

played much looser than most politicians do and took on a lot more challenges at one time. And that's why it got things done, but really increased the metabolism of Washington. And that's why this book is such a fast paced read, because it's going through the investigations, the action, the dealings with Congress, with foreign leaders, and really trying to show people what it's like to be in the throes of what's probably the highest pressure job

in the world. Explain to me how that day would work. I mean, because I remember talking to Reince Priebus, who at the time was the chief of staff

And it was nearly midnight. And I said, boy, you got to go. And he said, yeah, I got to get to bed. And I said, what time's the boss going to be calling you? And he said, I'll start getting texts or, you know, I'll get messages or calls around 4 a.m. And, you know, Donald Trump is known for not being much of a long sleeper. But explain the day and how it would progress, because he did like to get after things early. Yeah. So my general rule was that I had to be

in the office, at my desk, read through on all the news of the day, through the major papers and also my intelligence briefing by 7:30 a.m. And so that meant often I'd leave before my kids got up, which was something that obviously I'm enjoying doing now, but I'm not enjoying that is the ability to spend time with them in the morning.

And then you probably had, call it two or three hours of meetings internally planning through days or long-term policies. And then when Trump would get down to the office, he'd be working the phones. I mean, I would see his call logs. He'd probably have 10, 20 calls sometimes by 10 o'clock. And he'd speak to members of Congress and different cabinet secretaries and always just figuring out kind of why things weren't getting done. Some of it was reactive in terms of there was something people were complaining about.

jumping people on it to get things done, but then also saying, hey, where are we with this? Where are we with that? Are we making progress on these different objectives? And then from about 11 till maybe seven or eight, we'd just be in the office dealing with the different meetings or public events. Some days different crews would be traveling. But I think the trick to success with him and probably with any president is just to have depth of the organization where you have the ability to delegate. I think Ryan's initially said,

didn't have the best people around him. And I think that that weighed on him a lot because he had to deal with so many things himself instead of having the ability to pass things off to different people. But I write in the book about the four different chiefs of staff that I served with and the differences in all their personalities. And then ultimately how my understanding of that job evolved and how different ones evolved.

adapted to President Trump better, but also adapted to the building better. And I don't go into specifically like this was good or this one was bad, but I just give the different interactions that I have with them and the different directions they had with the president and others in the White House, hoping that it allows readers to get a feel for themselves as to what that job is like and what it takes to be successful at that job, which is one of the most powerful jobs in the world.

Oh, no, it certainly is. And certainly your your job was in your proximity. I mean, because he leaned on you for not only I mean, I can't think of anything he didn't lean on you for. Was there? No. Look, I think that I try to go into the book to explain my role. And I think my role is an unusual role. And I think Donald Trump is also an unusual president. He was a private sector guy. He was a results oriented guy. He was a Washington guy.

outsider. He didn't always follow the rules of Washington and, you know, he didn't go to their parties or talk the way they wanted him to talk or follow all the procedures they wanted, but he wanted to get things done. And so I write about some jobs like Middle East peace, how I kind of got that job. I found out he was talking to the New York times and said, Oh, Jared's going to come to Washington and work on Middle East peace. And I said, Oh, I didn't know that. And I write about how I found out it was a pretty funny story. But then

There's also experiences in there where after two years, the wall wasn't getting built. Donald Trump decided to shut down the government. He calls me into his office. I'd just gotten done the criminal justice reform, which is something that almost died about 100 times. And I write extensively about how that happened to show people what it's like to get things done in Washington. And I was celebrating. I was so proud of the achievement. And I get called into the office three hours later and he says, congratulations, you're in charge of immigration and building the

Wold. Nobody's gotten it done the last two years. Bannon didn't get it done. John Kelly didn't get it done. You're in charge. Figure out how to get it done. And so I write about how I was able to work with great people like Mark Morgan, Chad Wold,

Stephen Miller, Pat Citaloni, Chad Mizell, Pat Philbin. We figured out how to find the money. John Rader did a great job and then really got a team together and figured out how to get it done. By the time we left, we built over 470 miles of wall because of the success of it. The migratory patterns were starting to change. And so we commissioned more wall, which unfortunately now is just sitting there, you know, not being built.

But when President Trump left office, the number of illegal crossings at the southern border were the lowest in history. And so I write about, again, some jobs I didn't ask for. I wasn't traditionally qualified for. But when President Trump gave me a job to take on, I write about how at first I would evaluate why it

didn't get done before. I try to come up with a plan, build a team and then work very hard to implement and then, you know, change plans as facts changed as well. You're listening to Jason in the House. We'll be back with more of my conversation with Jared Kushner right after this. This is Jimmy Fallon inviting you to join me for Fox Across America, where we'll discuss every single one of the Democrats dumb ideas. Just kidding. It's only a three hour show. Listen live at noon Eastern or get the podcast at Fox Across America dot com.

You know, one of the great things that one of the great opportunities that was out there that didn't happen was this debate that he was supposed to have with Joe Biden about foreign policy. Because I think one of the greatest accomplishments that President Trump had was in foreign policy.

Tell us about that, because all of a sudden, you know, the complexities of domestic politics is one thing, but the foreign politics, I mean, what the president was able to achieve with your help and assistance and, you know, Robert O'Brien and some other key people along the way was truly remarkable in the Middle East and above and beyond that. I mean, it really was a great accomplishment, but I don't think we had a proper debate in this country before.

going into the presidential election on that topic because it was such a strength for Donald Trump.

Yeah, the media tried to avoid talking about foreign policy with everything they could because they knew that Joe Biden's track record on it was awful. And by the way, the current results are awful, which we can talk about in a bit with a war in Ukraine and with regards to China's aggression. And it's really a disaster. But I think that with Trump, he's probably the most successful foreign policy president we've had in over 50 years. And

You know, voters I saw in the polls don't appreciate foreign policy as a genre, but the impacts of foreign policy are tremendous on Americans. And it really kind of manifests itself in two ways. Number one is safety, right? So if you don't have a good, strong foreign policy, we've had, you know, 9-11, we were attacked here on the home front because of, you know, bad management of threats and risk overseas. And then also you have it in trade deals where, you know,

where if you make bad trade deals, a lot of the middle class gets hollowed out. We saw China being allowed to join WTO and the NAFTA trade deal, which basically hollowed out a lot of working class towns in America with factories moving overseas, etc.

And I think that those two debates are ones that, quite frankly, those are two issues the voters elected Trump on, right? They were tired of sending their sons and daughters into these endless wars, which President Trump vowed to stop. And they hated seeing our jobs and our auto plants continuing to be sent overseas. And Trump really versed that. And his rebuke was not a rebuke of the Democrats. It was a rebuke of the entire foreign policy establishment,

in our government, which is really the career political class that have gone through the revolving door of being in government, going to the private sector or the media, and then going back to government. But President Trump's foreign policy was a major departure

from the conventional thinking and it encountered a lot of resistance but if you're interested in foreign policy i go through a lot of it in my book how president trump dealt with foreign leaders how he built relationships and that's how not only did we avoid new wars he's the first president in uh in decades to not have any uh new foreign wars he also ended wars and made peace deals and figured out how to reduce our troop presences you know there's a lot of uh

hyperventilation about the fact that he was, quote, alienating our allies. But what he was basically saying with Europe is, wait, so you're not paying your share in NATO. We're overpaying in NATO.

nato is supposed to be threatening uh protecting you from the threat of russia you're now signing big gas contracts and not only sending tens of billions of dollars to russia but it's also giving you dependency on russia so if they ever have a conflict they can manipulate you with with gas and with natural resources and then in addition to that i should do this all for the privilege of losing money to you on trade every year and people thought that he was

violating some religious sect, some religious vow by doing it. And so it drove people crazy. But his foreign policy, I thought, was spectacular. And by the end, he had an amazing team. And Robert O'Brien, Secretary Pompeo, a lot of the great ambassadors, Trade Ambassador Lighthizer, who really helped him implement it in a very, very strong way.

I think President Trump added a clarity and a realism to it that you're right. I think the Washington establishment on both sides was just unwilling to take on

and to be able to offer that clarity, not only domestically, but to these world leaders. And it had an amazing effect on how things happen. Give us just a glimpse, if you could, and I know you write about it more in depth in the book, but to have flights, it's more than just symbolic, to have flights out of Israel into these Middle Eastern countries. I mean, nobody ever thought they'd see that.

The people who mentioned that to me more than anything are people who are above 60 because they lived through times where they saw a lot of wars in the region and they just never thought that these breakthroughs would occur. And maybe it was kind of my youth or maybe it was my lack of

of contextualization originally of the problem, but I just kind of looked at it and said, this whole situation is illogical. And again, I joke that I was able to achieve the breakthroughs for the peace deals on plan C only because we went through the alphabet three times and everything we tried failed. And again, I write about a lot of those attempts and what we learned from everything.

that didn't work, that led us ultimately to find the breakthrough. But that's a major thing. And if you think about the Arab-Israeli conflict, a lot of it comes from the vestiges of World War II, where you had Nasser led the Arabs at a time where there was still great anti-Semitism against the establishment of the State of Israel. And then

In that surprising defeat, a lot of the Arab countries then basically made Israel the scapegoat and kicked Jews out of their capitals in all the different countries from cities like Baghdad and Cairo, where they lived peacefully with Muslims for thousands of years. And so that really created the polarization that we're still living with today. And then for the last 50 plus years, you basically had Arab leaders

using Israel as a way to divert from a lot of their shortcomings at home. And so that was kind of the environment that we were working against. And not only did people think it wasn't possible, people weren't even trying to make these breakthroughs because, again, the established thinking in Washington was described by John Kerry before he left office in 2016, where he said, there will never be peace between Israel and the Arab countries until you have peace with Israel and the Palestinians. And

Again, I thought that that was true initially, but the more I went through and started speaking to people and trying to see things for how they were, I thought that that made absolutely no sense. And we tried differently and we were able to expose the Palestinian issue to be kind of the farce that it was.

And by doing that, we were able to create a breakthrough that nobody thought was possible. And again, President Trump took a very untraditional approach to foreign policy. And by understanding American power, by not allowing our allies to cherry pick issues, by slaughtering a lot of sacred cows, whether it was moving the embassy to Jerusalem or pulling out of the Iran deal. I try to take readers into the situation room and into the different areas.

discussions about these decisions that were taken that were very controversial. People were telling him from the Secretary of Defense and the CIA, the intelligence community, that if he did this thing, we'd have World War III and the world would explode. And President Trump very carefully deliberated those things. And he made the decisions. And then the next morning, the sun rose. And the next evening, the sun set. And life moved on. He

mitigated whatever the potential risks were as a businessman would do. And so it's very important for America to have a strong foreign policy because that's what keeps us safe and gives us the ability to prosper as an economy, which leads to opportunity for all Americans to rise up the ladder of opportunity. Well, again, the success that the president had with you there at his side as you write about breaking history, it's just...

it really is. The more I hear you talk about it, I think the title of the book probably really is the one that's right, because how many presidents did we hear talk about, hey, we're going to put our embassy in Jerusalem and then to actually just go ahead and do it. And you're right, the world didn't fall apart. In fact, I would argue it's probably safer and more secure now than it has been. And because I think they had a degree of respect that

when Donald Trump said something, he was actually going to do it. And he had the ability to do it. And it wasn't just political rhetoric. It was something that he actually believed in in his heart. And he was unpredictable. You know, the same thing that drives his enemies crazy about him is also what drove our competitors crazy, right? You think about Iran or China,

they were way less provocative with Donald Trump because they never knew what his lines were. And that was a strategic advantage that he created, which allowed him to move pieces around the chessboard that leaders haven't been able to do for 50 years. And keep in mind too, you know, when, when Kissinger and Nixon opened China, um,

the global economy was not as developed as it is today. And so economy as part of the geopolitical landscape is a much more heightened tool than it was. And President Trump, as a businessman, surrounded himself with businessmen. There was just a study that showed that, an article I read somewhere that said that Trump's administration had an average of 14 years of private sector experience, whereas I think Biden's White House has an average of two and a half years. And I think the results show, right, he had

Record low unemployment, wages were rising, record low on inflation. You know, it just the economy was booming and we're making trade deals. And then, you know, Biden comes in and, you know, war in Ukraine that that was provoked. China's being very aggressive in Taiwan, which poses a big threat to the current global equilibrium right now.

and in addition that you have inflation off the charts and president trump made us energy independent with his with his with his policies and now we're basically begging iran and venezuela to give us more oil when you know we can't take the keystone pipeline and we could be getting it from from canada so you know the whole thing is just very illogical um but again i think president trump brought a lot of common sense to washington and i really hope that this book

takes readers inside those policies and gives them the ability to see, again, he wasn't right every time. I think I'm very honest about some of my biases and some of the mistakes that I've made, but I really try to give people insight into what happens so they can form their own opinions as to which parts were good and which parts were bad, and hopefully have a better lens through which to understand what's actually happening in Washington, D.C.

Well, I got to tell you, again, from the first moment I met you, the attitude and the approach that, hey, we're going to roll up our shirt sleeves and get after it and get it done. I really do think is a major contributor to the triggering that the word MAGA or any one of those hats has out there, because I think they realize and recognize how incredibly successful MAGA is.

uh, president Trump was on policy and his ability to cut through the garbage that, that, that is Washington DC within that, that beltway bubble. Um, before I get to just a couple of last questions, uh, it's a little personal questions. Um, what was your biggest surprise when you walked away and you walked out of that white house and it was the last day and you look back, you had achieved so much, but

What really surprised you at the end that maybe you didn't recognize was going to happen at the beginning? I think just in terms of personal feeling, I was surprised at how relieved I felt about

leaving. I saw some people leave and miss it. I saw some people leave and go on and really be out of their service and move on. I was actually really surprised at how much I felt like it was a massive boulder off my back in the sense that in Washington, the best work you do is often preventing a really big problem from becoming a fatal problem. And I tell a lot of stories about

things we did to pull off miracles during the COVID threats and during other areas where you're playing poker with China or Iran or even Mexico on trade deals or issues of immigration.

And the fact that, you know, we left and I didn't feel like I wasted too much time. I tell a story about getting visited by Prime Minister Mulroney, who was the former prime minister of Canada, who said that he served, I think it was for nine years as prime minister. And he's like, look, I'm only known really for two things. And, you know, when your time expires, you're not going to look back and say, hey, what was the salacious story of the day or what was the bad story?

you know, name that a colleague called you, people are going to look back and say, what did you do? And I felt like I really spent those four years not leaving anything on the table, not having any regrets that I didn't spend every minute possible fighting forward. And it was a very hard environment. Again, I'm very honest about, you know, what it's like being accused of treason and including with Russia and having to go through

special counsel investigation and, you know, congressional investigations and then, you know, working through impeachments and media slimes. But I think that what I also show is that, you know, we kept our head down, we got things done. And I was just very proud of my accomplishment. Again, I, you know, going to Washington was not a pathway I ever thought

what happened in my life. But, you know, even today I get calls, you know, every week from people who are coming out of prison because of the programs that we put in place now with job training and who are excited to have a second chance at life. And I get pictures sent to me of people who are just very grateful. And that just means the world to me because these are real lives that we impacted. Or I get pictures from the Middle East of people who, you know, visit Bahrain and see the Torah that I dedicated in honor of King Hamad for the work that he did to bring

Israel and the Arab world closer together. So you just have so much positivity that continues to happen because of the great policy achievements of President Trump and his administration that I was able to play a role in. And I just feel just incredibly touched that I was able to have that opportunity to make a difference. Well, I got to tell you, the sacrifice that you and Ivanka and your kids go through is

in serving like that, you really, there are a lot of people out there that do appreciate and thank you for the tenacity and just the tenacious nonstop effort because the multiple tasks that we're

On your plate. I mean, a lot of people have made a career out of just trying to tackle one of those issues. And just the array of things you've talked over the last 20, 25 minutes is it really is mind boggling that the book is called Breaking History. And Jared, I really do appreciate you sharing those thoughts and perspectives. The book's out now. Hopefully Amazon doesn't run out of them anymore. You're listening to Jason in the House. We'll be back right after this.

Before I go, I got to ask you a few questions, a few rapid questions. I hope that's okay. Go ahead. All right. And by the way, we have, we, we, we got them plenty more books. Our Harper promised me to have as many books as people want to buy. So, uh, we have that. It's also done very well on audible as well. So a lot of people have been listening to it on audible and sending me nice notes as well. So it's, uh, so, so we have enough books. All right. All right. Good. All right. Few, few rapid questions. We'll do less than we normally do, but, uh,

Just a little bit about you growing up to get to know you a little bit better. First concert you attended? I think it was probably either Billy Joel or Dave Matthews. Nice. Very good. What was your first job?

that you had as a little kid? You're growing up, but what's your first job, kind of away from maybe mom, dad, that you had to go do as a young man? - So I worked as a waiter at camp a little bit, but after I turned, I think it was maybe 12, my father stopped with camp and told me I had to get a real job, so he put me on one of his construction sites, and that was quite a unique experience, really getting to work with the carpenters and the plumbers and sweeping homes every day.

and just seeing what a real day's work is like. - That's good. If you could meet one person, you said, "Hey Ivanka, you know what? "We got a special guest coming over for dinner tonight."

anybody dead or alive, it's a person in history. Who would you want to have come over and break bread with? Oh, that's, that's a good one. Well, the cool thing is, is we've been able to meet so many. Yes, you have. Your list is probably, yes. You know, one person I'd be very interested to spend time with is, is a Shimon Perez. I read his book and I really loved it. And, and that was someone who I think,

again, did a lot of things behind the scenes to really safeguard the state of Israel and did a tremendous job. So that's somebody I've been intrigued by. That's interesting because, you know what, of all the kind of foreign policy leaders, I think I have probably spent more time with him back in the day than just about any of the others. And at some point I'll tell you that story and share with you. It's really, really kind of interesting and what an honor to do it before he had passed away.

A big question for me that is just very personal. Do you like pineapple on pizza? Yes or no? No, not my thing. Yeah, good. You shouldn't put wet fruit on a pizza. I think that's a, that's an important thing. Uh, two more questions. Best advice you ever got? Uh, show up on time. I think it's, uh, I write about it in the book, how my father was telling me before a, um,

an interview that I had, he says, what time are you going to leave? I said, I'll leave at eight o'clock. And he says, well, what if there's traffic? I said, well, I've done this drive a hundred times. There's never traffic. And he says, well, what if there's an accident? I said, I can't have planned for that. He says, well, the only excuse for ever being late is that you didn't leave early enough. So, you know, take control of your own, of your own destiny and really do, if something's important, you have to put the onus on you to figure out how to get it done.

versus finding excuses that you could blame others for. All right. Well, I had one more question, but you know what? We're going to save that for another day because you've been very generous with your time and I don't want to be late getting out of this talk and this conversation. So Jared Kushner, the book is Breaking History. It's breaking records. And if you really want to see how it actually works behind the scenes, I can think of no better person and no better book

than breaking history because boy, the things you were able to accomplish in a short amount of time, truly stunning. I don't know that we've ever seen so much productivity come out of it, just rapid fire. And so hats off to you. Thank you for your service to the country and congratulations on this book. Well, thank you for your kind words and thank you for your partnership and mentorship.

Very good. Jared Kushner, thank you. Well, I can't thank Jared Kushner enough for his time and his insight. I have started to read his book. It is absolutely fascinating. And I really, if you want to read a bit about history, I think you're going to find right out of the chutes, this is not your typical just political book.

It really is something special. And it's called Jared Kushner's It's Breaking History is the way you find it. But I thank him for joining us. And as we do with all the podcasts, I also, as we kind of sign off here, I want to say a congratulations. It's a little bit tardy, but the Little League World Series, I think, is one of the great sporting events. And it's heading back to Hawaii, right?

Hawaii has won the Little League World Series. The team from Honolulu defeated the international champion, Caracal, which is surprising. I didn't know they were so into baseball, but they beat them 13 to 3.

in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Congratulations to Hawaii. Well done. All right. So thanks for joining us here on the Jason and the House podcast. I hope you can rate it, subscribe to it. Go check out more podcasts at foxnewspodcast.com or wherever you listen to podcasts.

You're going to find a lot of other contributors and people like Trey Gowdy and Ben Dominich and Will Kane. And there's a lot of good, Shannon Bream's got one up there. A lot of good podcasts that I'm sure you're going to want to look at. But again, like it, rate it, review it. We'll be back with more next week. I'm Jason Chaffetz. This has been Jason in the House.

Jason in the House, the Jason Chaffetz podcast. Dive deeper than the headlines and the party lines as I take on American life, politics and entertainment. Subscribe now on Fox News podcast dot com or wherever you download podcasts.