Donald Trump's chief of staff John Kelly ‘shoved’ Ivanka at White House, claims Kushner

John Kelly, who served as the chief of staff for former US President Donald Trump, “shoved” Ivanka Trump in a White House hallway, claimed her husband, Jared Kushner in his upcoming memoir. Kushner, who served alongside Ivanka as Trump’s senior adviser, has penned a book titled ‘Breaking History’ and it will be published in August. 

Citing excerpts from the book, Washington Post reported that Kushner has written, he and his wife saw Kelly as “consistently duplicitous” and that the former chief of staff was seen as a ‘bully’ in the White House as his temper was volatile like “Jekyll-and-Hyde”. 

Kushner writes, “One day he had just marched out of a contentious meeting in the Oval Office. Ivanka was walking down the main hallway in the West Wing when she passed him. Unaware of his heated state of mind, she said, ‘Hello, chief.’ Kelly shoved her out of the way and stormed by. She wasn’t hurt, and didn’t make a big deal about the altercation, but in his rage Kelly had shown his true character.”

However, an hour after the incident, Kushner stated that Kelly only offered a “meek” apology. 

As per The Post, a spokesperson for Ivanka Trump said that her husband’s description was accurate. In the book, Kushner has written Kelly would give Ivanka “compliments to her face that she knew were insincere”. He wrote, “Then the four-star general would call her staff to his office and berate and intimidate them over trivial procedural issues that his rigid system often created. He would frequently refer to her initiatives like paid family leave and the child tax credit as ‘Ivanka’s pet projects.’”

‘I don’t recall anything’: Kelly

Responding to the claims floated by Kushner in his upcoming book, Kelly told the outlet that he doesn’t “recall anything”. Trump’s chief of staff said, “I don’t recall anything like you describe. It is inconceivable that I would EVER shove a woman. Inconceivable. Never happen. Would never intentionally do something like that. Also, don’t remember ever apologising to her for something I didn’t do. I’d remember that.”

While Kelly categorically denied shoving Ivanka, Kushner even gave a detailed description of the overly aggressive behaviour of the former chief of staff while meeting Chinese officials in Beijing in 2017. Kushner wrote, “In that moment, I finally understood John Kelly. To him, everything was a game of establishing dominance and control. He made people feel small and unimportant to establish the relationship from a place of power. Then, with his position firmly established, he would charm and disarm, leaving people relieved that they were on his good side, but fearful of what would happen if they crossed him.”

Image: AP