The Help

All things considered, it's going to turn out to be one of the Kushners' more modest offenses. I mean, it really doesn't hold a candle to the perpetual grift; the buddy-buddy with MBS before, during and after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi; the COVID botch; the ongoing enabling of the Destructor in Chief. But not letting the Secret Service agents charged with protecting your family use one of your 6.5 toilets when they needed to go, well, that certainly speaks to character.

Two law enforcement officials said the bathrooms inside the Trump/Kushner home were declared off-limits to the people protecting them from the beginning. One official did not know the reason for this restriction, while the other said it was instigated by the couple. Both spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of security arrangements for the president’s family. (Source: WaPo)

It's certainly in keeping with everything we know about the couple, that's for sure.

White House spokesman Judd Deere denied that Trump and Kushner ever requested that their Secret Service detail not use the bathrooms in their home.

Oh, the White House denies it? Then okay, then. I mean, Judd Deere is no Kayleigh McEnany. He's not even a Sarah Huckabee Sanders. But we've certainly had no evidence whatsoever that info emanating from the White House is anything other than God's honest truth. 

Oh, wait. This is the Trump White House we're talking about. 

So my money's on the two LEO's who reported that the Kushner bathrooms were off-limits to the help. 

The Secret Service tried to work around the toilet fatwa. They put a porta-potty out front of the Kushners' posh rental in the tony Kalorama section of Washington. But the neighbors in the tony Kalorama section weren't interested in having a porta-potty staring them in the face. (Bad enough that the detail was taking up scarce on street parking spots, not to mention keeping them from walking on the sidewalks in front of Chez Kush.)

When the porta-potty got the heave-ho, the Secret Service contingent protecting the Obamas - just a hop, skip, and small bladder hold away from Ivanka and Jared - offered the Kushner detail the use of the bathroom in their command post. 

The Obamas did not use the garage [where their Secret Service hung out], so the extra traffic to and from the command post caused no problem. Yet this solution, too, was short-lived after a Secret Service supervisor from the Trump/Kushner detail left an unpleasant mess in the Obama bathroom at some point before the fall of 2017, according to a person briefed on the event. That prompted the leaders of the Obama detail to ban the agents up the street from ever returning. 

Well, ewww to that detail. You almost can't blame Jared and Ivanka. This may have been exactly what they were afraid of. Almost not blame them. Almost. 

Next up: a trip to the guard post at the Vice President's residence. Not quite as up close and personal as the Obama-related toilet, but still doable. 

This went on for much of 2017 when a solution to the gotta go dilemma emerged:

But it came at a cost to U.S. taxpayers. Since September 2017, the federal government has been spending $3,000 a month — more than $100,000 to date — to rent a basement studio, with a bathroom, from a neighbor of the Kushner family.

All the more galling when you consider that the adult children of sitting presidents don't automatically get protection. The president has to request it. And, of course, I'm sure nothing pleased the adult children of Trump more than swanning around with a Secret Service detail, demonstrating their celebrity and self-importance to all. 

Admittedly, not letting workers use the facilities isn't just restricted to the likes of Jared and Vanky.

A few years ago, I had a major renovation done. For a good part of that reno project, there was no plumbing in my condo. The workers had to go to the Starbucks on the corner. (Or, I'm sure, pee in a coffee cup and dump it in the gutter on their way out.) But once we were plumbed, the general contractor asked me if I minded if "the lads" used a toilet if needs be. (And, yes, my GC and many of the guys doing the work were from Ireland.)

Of course I said of course. I always let any repair people use the bathroom, or grab some water, if they need it. But Ciaran (my GC) assured me that many people were too fussy to let the help use their bathrooms.  

So while the Kushners are truly awful, they're not the only ones.

Anyway, I do believe that their Secret Service protection ends tomorrow at noon. 

Jared and Ivanka can pay for their own damn security guards. And whatever they need to pay to provide them with a place for their help to go to relieve themselves. But remember that they are Trumps. So the protection and the toilet owners might want to get paid in advance. Just sayin'...