No Hakeem, Absolutely Not

Maggie Haberman and Annie Karni report that Hakeem Jeffries met privately with Jared Kushner in a New York space arranged by a mutual friend, to discuss potential common ground. Five people described the meeting. It happened a week after Jeffries would not reaffirm his support for Medicare for All.

Hawk’s objection is structural. Kushner holds no government position, which is what keeps him outside security clearance and financial disclosure requirements, and he is simultaneously serving as envoy on Gaza, Iran, and Ukraine while raising money for his own fund from the governments he is negotiating with.

The arithmetic is the part worth watching. Steven Rattner’s chart work shows the fund is almost entirely foreign capital, including two billion from Saudi Arabia over the objection of the royal family’s own advisers. At a 1.25 percent management fee, three billion under management pays Kushner roughly 37 million a year whether he does anything or not.

Democratic voters keep telling pollsters they want someone who will fight. Hawk’s question is what a private common ground meeting signals about January.