Ivanka advises her father on women’s issues and has a significant diplomatic role, meeting with foreign leaders, while Jared is responsible for strategic planning, recently unveiling his plan for peace in the Middle East. However, Elizabeth Spiers, former New York Observer Editor, a newspaper owned by Jared, reportedly “noticed during a visit to Jared and Ivanka’s apartment that there was not a book in sight and that the pair had zero intellectual curiosity.’’ In the 2019 book ‘Kushner Inc’, it was revealed Ms Spiers had a difficult relationship with her employer, one that would eventually push her to resign.
While others have apparently disputed the “no books” claim, they only recalled seeing “a few art books” or “decorator-curated books”.
Ms Spiers told author Vicky Ward about a time when Jared complained to her about a New York Observer story about the move of author Martin Amis from London to Brooklyn.
Despite the story getting a huge following online, Jared allegedly insisted: “Nobody knows who this Martin Amis guy is. Nobody reads novels.”
Ms Spiers said she replied: “No, you don’t read novels.”
READ MORE: Donald Trump’s snub about Ivanka’s husband Jared Kushner revealed
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are senior advisers to the US President (Image: GETTY)
Elizabeth Spiers and Jared Kushner (Image: GETTY)
This was just one disagreement in a string of conflicts during their time working together in 2011 and 2012.
The pair frequently clashed on editorial issues that Ms Spiers believed “exposed Jared’s shortcomings as both a publisher and a person”.
Ms Spiers had been hired because she came from the world of digital media and the two of them worked together on a plan to turn the newspaper’s fortunes around and make it profitable again.
Under her direction, the newspaper did indeed enter the black.
Jared Kushner hired Elizabeth Spiers to be editor of the New York Observer (Image: GETTY)
In return, Jared had promised to invest resources into the newsroom, but the funding never came and she eventually quit the paper.
She told Ms Ward that Jared did not seem to understand journalists, nor did he respect them.
She said: “He’d be condescending to them and he didn’t understand why anybody would go into journalism.
“He was like ‘Why are these idiots taking these low-paying jobs when they could work in commercial real estate and make a ton of money?’
DON’T MISS
Ivanka Trump: Reason Ivanka’s marriage to Jared Kushner shocked family [INSIGHT]
Ivanka Trump shock: Real reason behind Jared Kushner split [REVEALED]
Donald Trump’s ‘embarrassing speech’ at Ivanka’s wedding revealed [QUOTE]
Elizabeth Spiers in 2017 and 2005 (Image: GETTY)
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are now two of the most powerful people in the world (Image: GETTY)
“He did not understand public service at all.”
Ms Spiers added that he seemed to have “little editorial vision” beyond being pro-Israel.
She said: “When I first took the job, he wrote this kind of manifesto about what the Observer should be about,
“It was, like, four pages long, and two of them were about Israel. I thought that was bizarre.
“The New York Observer has traditionally been about New York.”
Another gripe Ms Spiers had with Jared seemed to have “no interest in good writing”, but rather wanted a vehicle through which to “flex [his family’s] power”.
This meant he often wanted the paper to write critical articles about people who had upset his family, or glowing articles about ones they wanted to impress.
One of the most controversial examples of this was when the News Corps phone hacking scandal erupted in 2011 and Jared wanted to make sure the newspaper’s editorial defended his “idol” Rupert Murdoch.
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner (Image: GETTY)
However, Ms Spiers decided to defy him and published an editorial that was far less positive, which aggravated her boss.
Reflecting on Jared’s experience in real estate, she said: “You have a lot of people with mediocre skill sets and intellects who advance in that in industry, just because it is so small and incestuous.
“And they believe everyone else outside of that industry also behaves that way.”
She alleged that Jared would later tell her that there was “not enough zeros” in the New York Observer to hold his attention.