Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Sessions ‘Hate, Hate, Hates’ Kushner’s Prison Reform Plan, Pardon Push

Presidential advisor/son-in-law Jared Kushner’s continued push for prison reform is angering Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Vanity Fair reported Thursday.

“He hate, hate, hates it,” a source close to Sessions told Vanity Fair about the attorney general’s view of Kushner’s partnership with CNN commentator and prison reform advocate Van Jones. Some sources said that Trump may enjoy Sessions’ outrage, hoping that it would prompt him to quit.

Kushner has made prison reform a signature issue, recently throwing much of his weight behind the cause. In doing so, he’s forged alliances with unlikely characters like Jones and Kim Kardashian West.

“Jared and I have 99 problems but prison ain’t one,” Jones told Vanity Fair. “I’ve found him to be effective, straightforward, and dogged.”

Kushner’s work with Kardashian West led to Trump pardoning convicted drug deal Alice Johnson, which gave Trump begrudgingly positive press.

Now Kushner may be preparing for an even larger pardon push, which Trump may be inclined to approve.

Kardashian West reportedly gave Kushner a list of others to pardon, which included several hip-hop artists.

“They’re going to be pardoning a lot of people—pardons that even Obama wouldn’t do,” a source told Vanity Fair.

Juliana Kaplan is a news intern at The Forward. Email her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter, @julianamkaplan

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.