Kushner on private meeting with Kanye West: 'Unlike others, I'm able to keep friendships across the aisle'

White House senior adviser Jared Kushner addressed his recent meeting with rapper Kanye West on Thursday, telling Fox News that "unlike others, I'm able to keep friendships across the aisle."

"Kanye has been a friend for ten years," Kushner told "Special Report" host Bret Baier. "He's a very very special person, he's a very successful music artist, he’s a very successful designer, he's been very successful in a lot of the things he has done."

The New York Times was first to report details of the unexpected meeting that happened last weekend in Telluride, Colo. as controversy swirls around West's declared bid for the White House. West has met with Kushner and the president before to discuss racial justice issues, and has been a high-profile celebrity supporter of Trump. But in July he announced his presidential bid, and has since submitted paperwork for his name to appear on the ballot in multiple states.

Kushner confirmed that he and his wife Ivanka Trump met with West, but said only that they discussed "ideas" and avoided talk of "his campaign and what he's up to."

"Unlike others, I'm able to keep friendships across the aisle."

Prior to the meeting, West sent Kushner a book about Black economic empowerment, which Kushner said he found "absolutely phenomenal," and distributed copies of across the White House "because I think there's a lot of inspiration we can get from it for President Trump's second term agenda."

"Kanye sent me a book about a month ago called 'PowerNomics' ... I read the book. It was absolutely phenomenal, it actually incorporated a lot of the things that President Trump has been doing," Kushner explained.

Asked to address charges that Republican operatives have been aiding West in a coordinated plan to siphon Black votes away from Joe Biden, Kushner reiterated, "We didn't discuss his campaign and what he's up to.

"I read things in the pr... (Read more)

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