The emails, spanning from Mayor Bill de Blasio’s first year in office in 2014 through the spring of 2017, show de Blasio’s occasionally fawning overtures to Jared Kushner and others in the Trump Organization | AP Photo De Blasio and his administration had a warm relationship with Kushner, emails show

Long before Mayor Bill de Blasio started to define New York City as the nexus of anti-Donald Trump sentiment, the mayor and other senior officials in his administration maintained friendly relations with the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and his daughter, Ivanka Trump, emails obtained through a Freedom of Information request show.

The emails, spanning from de Blasio’s first year in office in 2014 through the spring of 2017, show de Blasio’s occasionally fawning overtures to Kushner and others in the Trump Organization in the weeks after the 2016 election. They also show Kushner’s intense involvement in local and state politics, before his father-in-law’s surprise election catapulted him to becoming one of the most powerful political figures in the United States.


De Blasio had been a fervent critic of Trump during the 2016 campaign, calling him “dangerous” and comparing him to a “third-world dictator,” but he harbored no such sentiment for his son-in-law. After the election, and after a meeting with Trump at Trump Tower, where de Blasio said he told the president-elect about how New Yorkers were “fearful” of his policies, de Blasio reached out to Kushner in a personal email.

“Jared, I hope you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and a little break from the swirl of activity these last few weeks have brought,” the mayor wrote on Nov. 26, 2016.

While de Blasio had spoken with Trump about New Yorkers’ fears, he reached out to Kushner with a different, and very specific, request.

“As we discussed, I encourage the President‐elect to meet with a bi‐partisan leadership group from the US Conference of Mayors sometime in December,” de Blasio wrote.

The mayor has assiduously courted the favor of other mayors around the country, and is said to be eyeing a larger role within the U.S. Conference of Mayors at some point in the future.

“One [of] the organization's central concerns in infrastructure, and this would certainly be the #1 agenda item for the meeting. The current USCM president is Mick Cornett, Republican of Oklahoma City. With your assent, I'd like to connect him by email to you or whoever you indicate,” de Blasio wrote to Kushner.

He added: “Finally, whenever you have a moment for a drink or a cup of coffee, I'd love to spend a little time with you. I can only imagine how tough your schedule has become, and I'm happy to accommodate whatever time and place works for you. Much appreciated — Bill.”

Kushner replied with equal politeness: “We had a great holiday — I hope you did as well. Can you please connect me with Mick and I will make this happen? Would be a pleasure to get together. Is there someone I should work with to schedule?” Kushner said.

The meeting between Trump and the U.S. Conference of Mayors did end up happening in December of 2016. A few weeks later, de Blasio publicly praised Kushner to reporters.

“About the person of Jared Kushner — I respect him a lot,” he said in early January. "I’ve known him for years and find him to be a very reasonable person," de Blasio said of the young real estate developer and former owner of the New York Observer.

“He’s certainly someone I’ve been talking to over these last weeks. He’s someone I intend to stay in touch with on behalf of the people of New York City. He’s someone who really cares about New York City and is someone that would be very helpful to us. So I’m certainly pleased he’ll be in that role,” de Blasio said. “And I can say clearly compared to many other people who've been named to other positions, I find him to be a lot more reasonable and a lot more moderate.”

The mayor's anti-Trump rhetoric has ratcheted up over the last year, however — just Tuesday, he led an anti-Trump rally outside of Trump Tower — and the last time de Blasio appears to have spoken with Kushner was in March of 2017, his schedules show.

A de Blasio spokesman said the mayor had an obligation to both lobby on behalf of the city and to protest federal policies he believes would be harmful to his constituents.

"Protesting with the people impacted and lobbying behind the scenes are not mutually exclusive," de Blasio spokesman Austin Finan said Tuesday in an email to POLITICO. "So far, we’ve seen the president lobby for a myriad of policies that would directly harm New Yorkers. It’s the mayor’s job to give voice to New Yorkers and he’s a strident believer that protest is one of the most effective ways to create change."

The relationship between the de Blasio administration and Kushner extended back for years.

Kushner was invited to — but couldn’t attend — a July 2016 going-away party for the mayor’s former counsel Maya Wiley at a restaurant near City Hall, the same month de Blasio ripped his father-in-law at the Democratic National Convention, calling him a "little man" who was "born rich."

Kushner was personally invited to attend the mayor’s 2016 State of the City address, and to a 2015 event on broadband adoption in low-income communities. Both Kushner and now-Treasury Secretary Wilbur Ross were invited to an event at Gracie Mansion celebrating Jewish heritage.

The invitations in some cases went beyond the merely formal.

“The Mayor and First Lady asked that I personally make sure you had the information for the upcoming Fashion Week Kick Off Reception at Gracie Mansion,” the director of the mayor’s Office of Special Projects and Community Events wrote in an invitation to Ivanka Trump in an August 2014 email.

Ivanka Trump wrote back that she would have “loved to join” but couldn’t attend because of a conflicting event at her daughter’s nursery school.

“Thank you for thinking of me. I hope it is a wonderful night,” she wrote back.

And Kushner, whose emails were punctuated with exclamation marks, smiley faces and general sunniness, was a relatively frequent correspondent with de Blasio’s deputy mayor of Housing and Economic Development, Alicia Glen. He met with her to discuss real estate matters, but also corresponded over ongoing legislative battles in Albany and, in one exchange, the joys of jury duty.

He sought her intervention on behalf of a friend who was struggling to negotiate a community board matter involving the Collegiate School in February of 2015.

“Dear Alicia, the below is why I called you earlier,” Kushner wrote.

“I don’t have a horse in this race but my friend Sandeep is involved and passionate about this. I wouldn’t call for a just anyone — but he is someone I really respect and has his heart in the right place. I believe he called into you to try and help find a solution and a win-win for the school/city," Kushner wrote. "Perhaps this is something your office can get involved with to help satisfy all of the stakeholders and be the glue to bring everything together! As my editors tell me all the time, the city works the way it does but the people running it get involved to trouble shoot when the systems fail. I am happy to get involved and be helpful if need be.”

Glen promised her immediate attention.

“Jared — I was not aware that you had called me so I will check on the disconnect,” she replied. “On the substance this issue had been addressed to Tony Shorris (I guess bc he went to Collegiate), so I was only recently made aware of it bc it is in my domain. That said, I now have been briefed on the issue and am happy to assist in driving to a solution that will make sure the City gets the benefit of the bargain and allows the school to move forward.”

The matter was resolved to Kushner’s satisfaction, and he praised Glen for her assistance.

“First off — thank you so much for getting involved in the issue with my friend Sandeep. He said you did a masterful job helping to create a true win win win for everyone involved!!! He was super appreciative and complimentary of you,” Kushner wrote.

In 2015, Kushner asked Glen to be the keynote speaker at an event the Observer was hosting for its annual “Power 100” issue.

“I think you would make a great speaker and certainly are relevant to all of the people who will be in the room! No need for a long speech, unless you have more to say!” Kushner wrote.

She agreed to keynote the speech.

“Thank you for coming by last night. You spoke really well and I thought your message to the crowd was spot on,” Kushner wrote. “I’m glad that we were able to add some civic messaging along with the self-congratulatory nature of the evening. Overall though, great fun and great for the publication.”

That spring, Glen asked Kushner to sign on to a letter with other real estate officials and business leaders calling on Albany to reach a deal on a new 421-a program. Kushner went one better. His newspaper, the New York Observer, wrote an editorial calling out Albany’s dysfunction in not reaching a compromise on the legislation.

“I think this was more effective than a letter :))” Kushner wrote to Glen, as he forwarded an email from a real estate industry official praising the editorial.

“I saw.” Glen wrote in response. “Great piece.”

“Hope it helps!” Kushner wrote about the editorial, offering praise of the city’s positioning on the issue. “I think you guys did a really good job trying to thread the needle on this one and put something thoughtful together that accomplishes a lot of objectives.”

At the time, in the spring of 2015, Glen and Kushner were corresponding about trying to set up a meeting, but were having difficulty finding time because Kushner had jury duty.

“I am actually in grand jury duty for next 2 weeks. Some crazy stuff but very interesting to experience …” Kushner wrote to Glen.

“Thank you for your citizenship! I actually enjoyed jury duty last year!” Glen wrote back.

“We are lucky to live in an amazing democracy!” Kushner replied.