House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries met privately with Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and the meeting has now become part of the fight over who will be the next Speaker. As per The New York Times, the two men had talked about areas where they could work together.
Jeffries has formally announced that he is running for Speaker. A mutual friend of the two men offered the space. One source described it as a broad conversation on a range of topics to the Times. House Democrats will first pick their candidate in an internal contest.
The full House will vote in January, and a candidate needs 218 votes to win.
The meeting took place in a private space in New York City , according to the report.
In a statement, Jeffries did not mention it. Whitted pointed to Jeffries’ private meeting with Jared Kushner as one of the reasons for opposing his bid. It was started by Nicole Whitted, an author and social media creator who supports the Democratic Party and has more than 210,000 followers on TikTok.
He said: “In every conversation that we have with the Trump administration, we will continue to make it explicitly clear that the affordability crisis is not a hoax, and nothing short of transformational policy change is acceptable. The Times said the meeting happened while Democrats and Trump were attacking each other strongly on the campaign trail. It said the timing showed that people close to Trump knew Democrats could win the House, and wanted to build a working relationship before any change. The petition asks House Democrats not to support Jeffries as their next Speaker, according to Newsweek. In a video posted on Wednesday, she said the petition had received “almost 20,000 signatures”. She told Newsweek: “He also held a private meeting with Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and outside advisor, who himself is being investigated by the Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee.”
The petition urges all members of the incoming Congress to vote against Jeffries in January 2027, according to Newsweek. The petition page also states that Whitted is a Change Ambassador and receives payment in connection with the petition.
