Politics - News Analysis

CNN’s Paul Begala Facing Backlash After Calling Ivanka and Jared Kushner ‘Cockroaches’

Jake Tapper was forced to check CNN political analyst Paul Begala on Tuesday after he referred to Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner as “cockroaches.”

During a discussion about the new book, “Kushner, Inc.,” Tapper and his panel discussed whether or not Donald Trump would ever kick his daughter and son-in-law to the curb and questioned how the couple has kept their gig while the White House faces frequent turnover.

“The president, according to this book, was frustrated with Ivanka and Jared because they’ve generated bad press,” Tapper began. “He devised a plan with his then-Chief of Staff John Kelly to make life tough for them, so that they would go back to New York City. Regardless, Jared and Ivanka, on the facts — forget the book for a second — they have outlasted everybody.”

“I do find this fictional,” Urban stated. “There’s a lot of books that are written that you see. No grains of truth in some of them. I think this — imagining the president telling John Kelly, ‘Let’s get rid of my kids, send them back to New York,’ — I have been around the president and Jared and Ivanka, and I can tell you that’s pure fiction and not believable whatsoever.”

“What do you take from this book? Is it a sign that loyalty is preeminent with Trump?” Tapper followed up.

“I don’t think so,” Begala answered. “No, I think mediocrity is. When you’re too mediocre for even Donald Trump, you’ve really got a problem. Of course they survived. Cockroaches are going to survive nuclear war.”

“You’re not calling Ivanka and Jared cockroaches,” Tapper responded.

“No. No. I’m talking about a separate class of species. When they took this job, I thought it was an enormous mistake. I don’t believe in criticizing politicians families. They are no longer family,” Begala added. “They’re government officials, they work for me. So we should hold them to a high standard.”

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