Jared Kushner Says Ivanka Is Just Like Donald Trump: 'Meticulous With Details and Has a Great Memory'

Jared Kushner described his wife as being very similar to President Donald Trump and said father and daughter were detail-focused people with great memories, as the power couple fought back against recent negative reports.

In a wide-ranging article on Ivanka Trump for The Atlantic, Kushner spoke warmly of Ivanka and of President Trump's management qualities and personal drive.

Kushner and Ivanka, also known as "Javanka," have been beset by negative coverage in recent weeks, amid allegations that they were given inappropriately high-level security clearances, used their influence for personal gain and encouraged the worst instincts of the president.

In The Atlantic article, the only comments that Kushner allowed on the record sought to paint his wife and father-in-law in a more positive light. "She's like her dad in that she's very good at managing details. Her father is meticulous with details and has a great memory," he said. "He really knows how to drive people, and I think she's the same way—results-oriented and also an excellent communicator."

While Kushner's comments were meant as a compliment, Trump is reportedly not a great fan of detail and forward-planning. His presidential briefings, for example, apparently must be broken down into bullet-pointed notes to ensure he will even read them, while senior administration officials have supposedly taken to including more visual aids to keep the president's attention.

The record rate of staff turnover in his administration to date also suggests he may not be the best manager to have ever occupied the Oval Office.

Donald Trump also spoke with The Atlantic for the interview and gushed over his daughter's abilities. He even suggested his eldest daughter would be a strong contender for the Oval Office one day, if she chose to run. "If she ever wanted to run for president," he said, "I think she'd be very, very hard to beat."

A recently published book—Kushner Inc., by journalist Vicky Ward—suggested a very different reality. Indeed, she tweeted a link to The Atlantic article on Friday, calling it a "puff piece" in reaction to Kushner Inc. "Surprising that the @atlantic would write a hagiography," she added.

Ward's book recounts one conversation between Trump and then–Chief of Staff John Kelly, in which the president asked for the couple to be bounced out of Washington entirely. "Get rid of my kids. Get them back to New York," he reportedly told Kelly, complaining that they "didn't know how to play the game."

According to Ward, though Ivanka Trump and Kushner have been described as moderating influences on the president, they actually enabled his worst excesses and used their proximity to amass influence.

Following Trump's failure to condemn white supremacy after the Unite the Right rally in 2017, for example, Ivanka reportedly dismissed former top economic adviser Gary Cohn's concerns. "My dad's not a racist; he didn't mean any of it," she said. When confronted with his failure to denounce the white supremacists, she responded, "That's not what he said."