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Eisen On Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump’s Silence

Norman Eisen, former White House ethics czar and ambassador to the Czech Republic, discussed President Donald Trump’s “both sides” comments in an interview with Jewish Insider on Wednesday.

“What he did is bad and dangerous for the Jewish people because it empowers those who threaten us, but it’s worse than that. It’s an assault against the basic principles of America,” said Eisen. “I’m most offended not just as a Jew, but as an American. That being said, we know that the Jewish people are always at risk when other minorities are targeted in a society, and the president’s words and conduct since the weekend, including yesterday, have created that situation.”

Eisen, a frequent critic of Trump and Jared Kushner over ethical transparency and conflict of interest matters, called on Kushner and Ivanka Trump to put country first and vocally oppose Trump’s narrative. “I know that every day that passes without them directly acting has the opposite effect,” Eisen explained. “It enables the ignorance and bigotry of the president. I wish I could tell you that I thought that they would speak out, but nothing we’ve seen from them so far suggests that they’re going to do anything to disagree publicly with Trump. It’s not sufficient merely to say in a bland, neutral way, as Ivanka did in her tweet, that she personally supports tolerance. When you have a statement of the kind that was made yesterday by an American president, you need to be vocal in your disagreement. It comes before a family relationship. It’s a fundamental moral issue. I don’t think we’ve seen anything from the two of them that suggests that they’re going to take that kind of a courageous stand.” 

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