In an excerpt from his new memoir, The New York Times is reporting that Ivanka Trump’s husband, Jared Kushner, was diagnosed with cancer. According to the book titled, Breaking History: A White House Memoir, Kushner detailed how he learned of his diagnosis.
Jared Kushner Provides Health Update After Revealing Terrifying Diagnosis
“On the morning that I traveled to Texas to attend the opening of a Louis Vuitton factory, White House physician Sean Conley pulled me into the medical cabin on Air Force One,” Kushner wrote of that day in October 2019, according to The Times.
“‘Your test results came back from Walter Reed,’ he said. ‘It looks like you have cancer. We need to schedule a surgery right away.'”
After being diagnosed, Jared Kushner claimed it was his decision to keep that information as private as possible. In fact, he allegedly didn’t even tell his wife or father-in-law, then-president Donald Trump.
“This was a personal problem and not for public consumption,” he wrote. “With the exception of Ivanka, Avi, Cassidy, and Mulvaney, I didn’t tell anyone at the White House—including the president,” Jared claimed he eventually told Ivanka at a later date, while Mulvaney told The Times he doesn’t remember being kept apprised of Kushner’s health.
Jared later confirmed that he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and that the surgery he underwent to remove a “substantial part” of his thyroid is how former President Trump learned the news of his son’s-in-law health.
After being called into the Oval Office, where Trump asked him if he is nervous about the surgery, Jared said he asked his father-in-law how he knew about it. To which Trump responded by saying:
“I’m the president. I know everything. I understand that you want to keep these things quiet. I like to keep things like this to myself as well. You’ll be just fine. Don’t worry about anything with work. We have everything covered here.”
While Jared didn’t confirm why he wanted to keep his diagnosis a secret, The New York Times reports that Jared worked hard to make sure only a “small circle” of people were aware. “We scheduled the operation for the Friday before Thanksgiving. That way, I would miss the least amount of time in the office. My absence might even go unnoticed. That’s how I wanted it.”
As several former White House veterans explained to The New York Times, because he wasn’t an elected official, Kushner didn’t have obligation to make his health issues public. And while it’s unclear why Kushner decided to come forward with his diagnosis now, he did write that he was determined to focus on work and not the “upcoming surgery or the unwanted growth in my body.”
“When I did think about it, I reminded myself that it was in the hands of God and the doctors, and that whatever happened was out of my control. At moments, I caught myself wondering whether I would need extensive treatment.”
Jared Kushner’s memoir is set to hit the shelves on August 23.