Kushner leaves US ambassador to Mexico out of meeting with Mexico president: report

President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner did not invite the U.S. ambassador to Mexico to meetings with top Mexican officials on Wednesday, according to a new report.

A senior U.S. official told The New York Times that Kushner did not invite Ambassador Roberta Jacobson to meetings with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray.

Jacobson, who is among the State Department’s top experts on Latin America, announced last week she would step down from her post in May after serving in the U.S. government for 31 years.

{mosads}Christopher Sabatini, a lecturer on international relations at Columbia University, told the Times that Kushner’s meeting was “not the way foreign policy normally is, or should be, conducted.”

“The sending of the president’s son-in-law — someone with no experience in Mexican-U.S. relations — is another example of the de-professionalization and personalization of diplomacy that will hurt U.S. interests and leverage in the region,” he told the Times.

Kushner’s trip was reported Wednesday shortly before his departure. He was reportedly set to discuss immigration, trade and security with the two Mexican leaders.

The trip comes slightly more than a week after Peña Nieto canceled plans to visit Washington after a phone call with the president, during which Trump reportedly became frustrated and “lost his temper,” according to a Mexican official.

It also comes after Kushner lost his interim top-secret security clearance following White House chief of staff John Kelly’s new policy surrounding interim security clearances.

In a statement at the time of Kushner’s security clearance downgrade, Kelly said that the president’s son-in-law was “integral” to the Trump administration’s relationship with Mexico.

“Everyone in the White House is grateful for these valuable contributions to furthering the president’s agenda,” Kelly added at the time.

Tags Donald Trump Donald Trump Jared Kushner Jared Kushner John Kelly Mexico

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