Is Sean Spicer’s Ouster A Win For Jared Kushner In White House Turf Wars?

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By Nathan Guttman July 21, 2017

Did Jared Kushner score a victory in the White House turf wars with the hiring of Anthony Scaramucci and the ouster of press secretary Sean Spicer?

Scaramucci, according to NBC met Thursday with Ivanka Trump, Kushner’s wife and Trump’s daughter, to discuss his joining the president’s press shop — and was reportedly opposed strongly by Steve Bannon, Kushner’s rival.

Scaramucci, the White House newly minted communications director, has earned Kushner and Ivanka Trump’s support by going to bat for the couple even when he did not fill any official role in the White House. In April, as news about Kushner’s undisclosed ties with Russian officials surfaced, Scaramucci went on TV comparing the young adviser to Alexander Hamilton, explaining that “he is a young man who has a tremendous amount of maturity.”

Scaramucci also volunteered to defend the Kushner family business after reports from China indicated the Kushners are trying to cash in on Jared’s high level position to shore in business, saying the press is being too “nosy.”

But Kushner’s support for bringing Scaramucci on board and booting Spicer has also to do with ideology. According to reports from May, Kushner, a centrist, has been prodding his father-in-law to get rid of Bannon and Spicer, both seen as representing a more right wing worldview.

Contact Nathan Guttman at guttman@forward.com or on Twitter @nathanguttman

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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