President Donald Trump is reportedly irritated that his top adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner took a family ski vacation to Colorado while the GOP’s Trumpcare health plan was going down in flames.
Kushner and wife Ivanka Trump and their three kids were photographed hanging loose in Aspen this week as Trump and congressional Republican leaders worked in Washington to save their Obamacare replacement. The measure failed to gain enough support to pass the House and was withdrawn before a vote on Friday.
CNN, citing an unnamed source close to the president, reported Trump was “upset that his son-in-law and senior adviser was not around during this crucial week.”
The White House denied Trump was angry at Kushner, but it was clearly an all-hands-on-deck kind of week. Even the president skipped his customary weekend trip to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the president “left everything on the field” trying to get the health care measure passed. He relied on other close aides, including chief strategist Steve Bannon, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Vice President Mike Pence (who cancelled his trip to the NCAA finals Friday), and senior adviser Kellyanne Conway.
Kushner joined his family in Colorado on Monday, after they had already left for a ski vacation, according to CNN. The trip included Donald Trump Jr. and his family, and Eric Trump and wife Lara.
Ivanka Trump also was missing from her father’s side during the critical week, even though a West Wing office has been prepared for her. She did, however, post Instagram notes about White House events from Colorado.
Vanity Fair noted the couple pulled a “vanishing act” on Trump during a week that could “make or break the Trump presidency.”
While Kushner and Ivanka Trump were in Aspen, The Washington Post reported that the Secret Service had requested an additional $60 million to keep up with the Trumps’ trips and living situations. The Aspen Times reported that agents spent thousands of dollars on ski equipment in order to guard the Trumps on their vacation.
Expensive trips like the ski vacation by Trump’s grown children, the president’s frequent jaunts to Mar-a-Lago, and first lady Melania Trump’s base in Trump Tower in Manhattan with their son, Baron, are costing the American taxpayers a bundle.
An Instagram post from Aspen by Lara Trump drew several critical comments about the cost of the trip and the crew’s abandonment of Washington during the Trumpcare showdown.