The 5-Minute Fix: Kushner, tariffs and FBI drama, explainedthe 5-

March 03, 2018

Democracy Dies in Darkness

Keeping up with politics is easy now

By Amber Phillips

Like any normal week in the Trump administration, there isn't just one massive story taking us into the weekend. There are three, or four, or half a dozen. And since I only have five minutes-ish of your time, let me boil down three of the biggest stories by attempting to answer three pressing questions:

Will Jared Kushner survive at the White House?
Can the economy survive a trade war?
What is the FBI accused of doing wrong this time?

1. Will Jared Kushner survive at the White House?

White House senior adviser Jared Kushner listens as President Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting in November. (Evan Vucci/AP)

President Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law didn't just have a bad week; he had a potentially career-ending one.

Kushner can no longer read top-secret documents, like the Presidential Daily Briefing, because his security clearance was downgraded. And that happened because the White House cracked down on people who don't yet have permanent security clearances, like Kushner. And that happened after the White House was slammed for letting an aide with domestic abuse accusations in his background continue to work closely with the president.

This week, we also learned why Kushner probably doesn't have a full security clearance.

The Post reported U.S. intelligence intercepts found four countries had looked at ways to manipulate Kushner and his complicated business dealings.

There's evidence Kushner may have blurred the boundaries between making money and working in the White House. Kushner took meetings during the transition with a Chinese insurance company and Russian bankerwhile his family's real estate company was searching for an investor to get them out of $1.2 billion in debt. The New York Times reports Kushner's family real estate company received two large loans from companies he met with at the White House last year.

Perhaps what is most dangerous for Kushner is he's at the center of the news cycle right now for all the wrong reasons. Taking attention away from Trump is what ultimately felled other Trump confidantes. Sure enough, The Post's White House team reports the president is entertaining having him and Ivanka Trump leave the White House: "[H]e also mused this week that everything might be better for them if they simply gave up their government jobs and returned to New York.”

So, can Kushner survive at the White House much longer? Maybe not.

Next question.

2. Can the economy survive a trade war?

A man rests among steel wires at a steel wholesale market in Shenyang, China's Liaoning province. (Shutterstock/EPA)

If it were up the president, we wouldn't be talking about his son-in-law's troubles. We'd be talking about the “good” trade war he just started. (The president's words, not mine.) So, okay, let's do that.

The what: Trump hastily announced broad tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the rest of the world. It's a protectionist move in line with his campaign promise to, well, protect struggling manufacturers in the U.S. He also declared a global trade war without much details on what that means.

The why: Trump is worried that China has a leg up in the steel market and he wants to make U.S. steel more competitive.

The but: This may have more of an adverse effect on the U.S. economy than China's. Economists warn this could raise prices for consumers. If U.S. steel is more expensive, U.S.-made cars will be more expensive too. Or, basically, everything made with steel or aluminum could cost more.

So could other U.S. goods. The biggest exporters of steel to the U.S. are some of the U.S.'s biggest allies: Canada, Brazil, Mexico. Some of those countries are threatening to retaliate with their own tariffs on potentially unrelated goods they import from the U.S., like Kentucky bourbon. The head of the trade committee at European Parliament simply threatened this: “The declaration of war has arrived.”

So, can the economy handle a trade war right now? Possibly not. While Trump may think trade wars are good, the evidence suggests past trade wars have cost jobs, stunted growth and may even have exacerbated the Great Depression.

Next and final question.

3. Was there wrongdoing at the FBI on Hillary Clinton investigations?

Then-acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe appears before a Senate Intelligence Committee in June 2016. (Alex Brandon/AP)

The former No. 2 at the FBI is under fire from an internal watchdog for possibly agreeing to media coverage about an investigation into the Clinton Foundation.

The Justice Department inspector general is preparing a report that accuses Andrew McCabe, who stepped down in January, of letting FBI officials talk to the Wall Street Journal during the election for a story about FBI feuding in its investigation of the Clintons' family foundation.

Why that might be wrong: The FBI rarely shares information, let alone specific details that were in that Wall Street Journal story, about an ongoing criminal investigation.

Why this matters: It gives Republicans ammunition to argue that the FBI under President Barack Obama was flawed. Trump has jumped on McCabe, whose wife accepted money from Clinton allies in an election for the Virginia legislature in 2016. The inspector general is also looking into how the FBI under James B. Comey and McCabe handled the election-year investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails.

But: This news undercuts somewhat the Republican narrative that the FBI has it out for Republicans. The inspector general criticizing Obama appointees is the same inspector general Trump just trashed the other day as being biased against him.

So, is the FBI accused of wrongdoing? We'll have to wait and see for the full report to come out.

Oh! And one more thing for your happy hour. Did you see this Trump tweet about Alec Baldwin?

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