Last updated on July 9th, 2021 at 07:46 am
Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of former President Donald Trump and an ex-White House adviser, had an “intense argument” with Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel ahead of the 2020 election, according to Wall Street Journal reporter Michael Bender’s new book, “Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost.”
“By 2020, the RNC wasn’t merely an extension of the Trump campaign. (2020 campaign manager) Brad Parscale had effectively turned them into a full partner, and Ronna had become one of the president’s closest advisers. The RNC was paying for the field staff. They were covering costs for state directors who couldn’t get calls returned from campaign headquarters. Even the lease for the campaign headquarters was being paid for by the RNC,” reads an excerpt that outlines how linked the Trump campaign and RNC were during Brad Parscale’s tenure as Trump’s campaign manager.
Tensions heightened after Parscale was replaced by Bill Stepien, a Kushner ally. Stepien didn’t get along with McDaniel, with whom he’d clashed during their work on the Trump campaign in 2016.
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“One major change when Stepien took over as campaign manager was the reelection campaign’s relationship with the Republican National Committee. Friction remained from the 2016 race between Stepien and much of Ronna’s senior leadership team. Ronna was running the Michigan Republican Party during that race, but Stepien disapproved of her decision to keep many of those same RNC staffers in her orbit,” according to the excerpts.
McDaniel was not included in key strategy meetings and got into an argument with Kushner after he “considered” taking over the RNC’s online fundraising platform, WinRed, because he didn’t trust the RNC’s management.
McDaniel reportedly tried to defend WinRed as a “legacy project” for the Republican Party, but Kushner scoffed at the idea.
“Jared wasn’t interested,” the excerpt says. “‘I don’t give a f— about the future of the Republican Party!’ he told Ronna inside the hotel meeting room. ‘Good to know,’ Ronna shot back. ‘I will be running for chair for a second term, and I will make sure you don’t come anywhere near this!'”
The new book goes on sale on July 13.
Alan is a writer, editor, and news junkie based in New York.
