New book on Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump paints a gloomy portrait of their lives as the children of billionaires

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are often portrayed as a moderating influence on President Donald Trump — Ivanka’s father and Kushner’s father-in-law.
However, a new book authored by investigative journalist Vicky Ward, titled "Kushner, Inc." portrays the power couple as "self-serving" and "transactional," according to the publisher.
The book also gives a window into their upbringing.
While Ivanka is portrayed as having lived her childhood in near isolation from her father, Kushner’s father is portrayed as overprotective of the heir to the family business.
Ivanka and Jared are senior White House advisers and hold top-secret security clearances, reportedly issued at the request of the president.

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are often portrayed as a moderating influence on President Donald Trump — Ivanka’s father and Kushner’s father-in-law. However, a new book authored by investigative journalist Vicky Ward, titled "Kushner, Inc." portrays the power couple as "self-serving" and "transactional," according to the publisher.

The book, which Ivanka and Kushner have pushed back against, also gives a window into how the two were raised, The New York Times reports.

"She portrays Ms. Trump and Mr. Kushner as two children forged by their domineering fathers — one over-involved with his son, one disengaged from his daughter — who have climbed to positions of power by disregarding protocol and skirting the rules when they can," The Times says.

Ivanka during her childhood is portrayed as isolated from her father. One anecdote recalls Ivanka showing up alone to tour her eventual high school, the elite boarding school Choate Rosemary Hall in Connecticut.

Kushner’s father is portrayed as overprotective of the heir to the family business. According to The Times’ retelling of one section of the book, a business associate of Kushner’s father would keep tabs on him at Harvard.

In response to the book, Peter Mirijanian, a spokesman for Abbe Lowell, Kushner’s lawyer, released a statement to The Times calling it "fiction."

"Correcting everything wrong would take too long and be pointless," the statement continues. INSIDER reached out to Lowell and the White House for a comment.

Ivanka is Trump’s eldest daughter, and unlike her brothers Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump who have embraced their father’s partisan rhetoric, Ivanka has crafted a softer image. A piece from Quartz last week called her "the untouchable," after she was not named amongst the 81 people that Democratic lawmakers are seeking documents and or interviews from.

Ivanka and Kushner are senior White House advisers and hold top-secret security clearances, reportedly issued at the request of the president. Ivanka focuses on issues, including paid family leave and representing her father and the US overseas, while Kushner’s portfolio includes brokering peace between in the Middle East and heading the White House Office of American Innovation.

This is Vicky Ward’s second book to touch on a member of the Trump family. Her book "Liar’s Ball: The Extraordinary Saga of How one Building Broke the World’s Toughest Tycoons" focused on the General Motors building on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan and featured real-estate moguls including Donald Trump.

According to The Times, Ward, who previously worked for Vanity Fair and is currently editor-at-large at Huffpost, interviewed more than 200 people for her book, "Kushner, Inc."

Ward responded to Lowell on Monday night via Twitter: "To Abbe Lowell’s claim that I have written a ‘book of fiction’ and that ‘correcting everything wrong would take too long and be pointless,’ I will simply say that the 220 people I interviewed for the book might beg to disagree."

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Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Sarah Gray)