Donald Trump’s son-in-law and former aide, Jared Kushner, was diagnosed with thyroid cancer while serving at the White House.
The 41-year-old businessman – who was a senior adviser to the 45th president of the US and is the husband of Trump’s 40-year-old daughter Ivanka Trump – secretly had a brush with the disease in 2019, while serving for his father-in-law, he reveals in his upcoming tome, “Breaking History: A White House Memoir”.
According to excerpts obtained by The New York Times, Kushner was told by Trump’s physician Sean Conley on a flight to Texas on Air Force One that his test results from Walter Reed Medical Centre showed signs of cancer and surgery was needed “right away”.
Kushner had the surgery just before Thanksgiving that year.
He wrote: “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?’” he asked.
Kushner had no idea Trump had been told about his cancer until he told him: “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.”
In the memoir – which is to be published on August 23 – he also reveals he had much of his thyroid removed.
The surgery took place as the US was negotiating a major trade deal with China.
Kushner’s cancer battle becoming public knowledge comes after Trump’s first wife, Ivana Trump, was laid to rest.
The 73-year-old former model and socialite – whose body was found at her New York City home on July 14 after a fall down the stairs – was buried last Wednesday at her ex-husband’s Bedminster Golf Club following an invite-only funeral service.
The mom to three of the ex-president’s children – also including Eric Trump, 38, and 44-year-old Donald Trump Jr – had her rose gold casket lowered into the ground “not too far from the main clubhouse” at the club, one mourner told the New York Post.
The lavish send-off is estimated to have cost at least $152 575 (about R2.5m).
