Something Baltimore would like to ditch: Kushner homes – AOL
After a series of vicious attacks on their home by their own president, proud Baltimoreans are standing by their city. But there is something local they would likely be happy to ditch: decrepit “Kushnerville” housing provided by Donald Trump’s own son-in-law, who has been blasted by tenants in the press as a “slumlord.”
Trump has lashed Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) in yet another attack on an African-American because of the congressman’s criticism of inhumane treatment of immigrants at the southern border, and slammed Cummings’ Baltimore district as a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.”
Ironically, Jared Kushner’s many Baltimore area housing projects — which he continues to own even as he works as a senior White House adviser — racked up hundreds of building-code violations creating the kind of conditions that Trump hints at.
“We expect all landlords to comply with the code requirements that protect the health and safety of their tenants — even if the landlord’s father-in-law is President of the United States,” said a statement at the time by Baltimore County officials.
A scathing investigation in 2017 by ProPublica and co-published by The New York Times — headlined “The Beleaguered Tenants of Kushnerville” — slammed the multiple projects purchased by Kushner Cos. when it was helmed by Jared Kushner and managed by a subsidiary. Kushner Cos. bought up some 15 complexes, almost all of them in the Baltimore area, housing as many as 20,000 people, according to ProPublica. None of the housing complexes are in Cummings’ district but several are close enough to share a ZIP code, Bloomberg reports, and many house African-Americans,
The investigation examined charges of decrepit conditions and lawsuits filed against tenants when they tried to move out. One court case described a leaking bedroom ceiling, maggots in the living room carpet and raw sewage spewing form the kitchen sink in a complex called “The Cove.” It’s the kind of apartment in which “no human being” would “want to live,” to quote Trump’s comment about Cummings’ Baltimore district.
Because Kushner retained his interest in the complexes, the White House told The Baltimore Sun that he would recuse himself from any policy decisions about federal Section 8 housing subsidies. Many tenants of the Kushner complexes rely on Section 8 to pay their rent, the newspaper noted.
Though Trump is bashing Cummings over his complaints about treatment of immigrants, he may be trying to undermine the congressman as he seeks records from Kushner. The House Oversight Committee, headed by Cummings, voted Thursday to authorize a subpoena for all work-related texts and emails secretly sent and received on personal accounts by Kushner and wife Ivanka Trump. Both Kushner and the first daughter have admitted using personal accounts for work messages. The president has repeatedly slammed Hillary Clinton for using a personal server for work-related emails.
Kushner Cos. could not immediately be reached for comment.
Ivanka Trump, assistant to U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and Jared Kushner, senior White House adviser, listen during a joint press conference with Trump and Saad Hariri, Lebanon’s prime minister, not pictured, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, July 25, 2017. Trump said he’s disappointed with Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from investigations of Russian interference in the 2016 election, and that ‘time will tell’ if the nation’s top law enforcement officer remains in his job. Photographer: Zach Gibson/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Ivanka Trump, assistant to U.S. President Donald Trump, left, talks to Jared Kushner, senior White House adviser, before a ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House to pardon the National Thanksgiving Turkey, Drumstick, in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017. This years pardoned turkeys, Wishbone and Drumstick, will join last years turkeys at Virginia Techs Gobblers Rest exhibit, where students and veterinarians care for the turkeys, and the public can visit and learn about the universitys teaching, research, and outreach programs in animal and poultry sciences and veterinary medicine. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Jared Kushner, senior White House adviser, left, and Ivanka Trump, assistant to U.S. President Donald Trump, walk on the South Lawn of the White House to board Marine One before departing to Camp David in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, June 1, 2018. Trump said he will meet Kim Jong Un on June 12 in Singapore, after he sat down with a senior adviser to the North Korean leader in the White House to continue the groundwork for the historic meeting. Photographer: Yuri Gripas/Bloomberg via Getty Images
FILE: Jared Kushner, senior White House adviser, right, and Ivanka Trump, assistant to U.S. President Donald Trump, board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, May 19, 2017. New Yorks banking regulator has asked Deutsche Bank AG and a pair of local lenders to provide information about their relationships with Jared Kushner, his family and the Kushner Cos., according to people familiar with the matter. Kushners financial and business ties have been of consistent interest for potential conflicts given his broad portfolio as senior adviser to his father-in-law, President Donald Trump. Our editors select the best archive images on Kushner and his family. Photographer: T.J. Kirkpatrick/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Jared Kushner, senior White House adviser, and Ivanka Trump, assistant to U.S. President Donald Trump, arrive for a ‘Be Best’ initiative event in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Monday, May 7, 2018. Melania announced a campaign Monday to raise awareness of children’s issues including social media use and opioid abuse, making a rare solo public appearance in the Rose Garden of the White House to formally launch her official work. Photographer: Yuri Gripas/Bloomberg via Getty Images
WASHINGTON, DC – DECEMBER 05: (AFP- OUT) Former Vice President Joe Biden, fourth from left, and his wife Jill Biden, second from left, speak with Ivanka Trump, the daughter of President Donald Trump, third from left, and her husband, President Donald Trump’s White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner, third from right, as former Vice President Al Gore, second from right, speak to former President Jimmy Carter, right, and former first lady Rosalynn Carter, bottom center, before a State Funeral for former President George H.W. Bush at the National Cathedral, December 5, 2018 in Washington, DC. President Bush will be buried at his final resting place at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. A WWII combat veteran, Bush served as a member of Congress from Texas, ambassador to the United Nations, director of the CIA, vice president and 41st president of the United States. (Photo by Andrew Harnik-Pool/Getty Images)
