Jared Kushner’s uncle and aunt have maxed out in presidential donations — to Chris Christie
Murray and Lee Kushner gave $3,300 each to Chris Christie for the 2024 presidential primaries. The family has long been estranged after Christie prosecuted Jared Kushner's father.
Clout this week was perusing a list of political donors who have already given the maximum allowed under federal law to presidential candidates for next year’s primaries. One couple from Livingston, N.J. — Murray and Lee Kushner — stood out.
They are the uncle and aunt of Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and former senior adviser. The couple maxed out — $3,300 each — to former N.J. Gov. Chris Christie, as they also did in 2015 when Christie first ran for president.
Christie, when he was a U.S. attorney, successfully prosecuted Jared’s dad, Charles Kushner, for a scandalous scheme that grew from a fight about spending in the family’s real estate business.
Charles Kushner pleaded guilty in 2004 to tax fraud charges and to retaliating against a witness in the case — his sister. He admitted to hiring a sex worker to seduce his brother-in-law and sending a video tape of the encounter to his sister.
Trump picked Christie to lead his 2016 White House transition team, until Jared put a stop to all that.
Christie called that a retaliatory “hit job” in his 2019 book, Let Me Finish: Trump, the Kushners, Bannon, New Jersey, and the Power of In-Your-Face Politics.
Still, Christie stuck with Trump until March of this year, two months before the former governor declared his candidacy for president.
Clout provides often irreverent news and analysis about people, power, and politics.