Jared Kushner, a former senior aide to then-President Donald Trump who is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, wrote in a memoir to be published next month that he had a bout with thyroid cancer in 2019 that had not been disclosed previously. According to excerpts of the book seen by Reuters, Kushner wrote that White House physician Sean Conley pulled him aside on Air Force One as Trump flew to Texas to tell him his test results from Walter Reed Medical Center they showed he had cancer and “you need to schedule surgery right away.” Kushner had the surgery right before Thanksgiving that year and managed to keep his cancer diagnosis a secret, despite working in a White House where news leaks were rampant. Excerpts from the book were first reported by The New York Times. Unbeknownst to Kushner, Trump knew of the cancer diagnosis: “The day before the surgery, Trump called me into the Oval Office and motioned for his team to close the door. ‘Are you nervous about the surgery?’ asked.” “How do you know;” Kushner asked him. “I’m the president,” he said. “I know everything. I understand you want to keep these things quiet. I like to keep things like that to myself. You’re going to be fine. Don’t worry about anything with work. We’ve got everything covered here,” Trump said. . Kushner revealed his cancer diagnosis in his memoir, “Breaking History: A White House Memoir,” to be published on August 23. Kushner said a significant portion of his thyroid was removed during the surgery, which took place during tense negotiations with China over a trade deal. Kushner was a lead negotiator in a US-brokered normalization deal between Israel and several Arab countries in 2020. He now heads the global investment firm, Affinity Partners, and has stepped away from politics for now. The Morning Update and Afternoon Update newsletters are written by Globe editors, giving you a concise summary of the day’s most important headlines. Sign up today.
