Donald Trump’s son-in-law has contacted media power player Aryeh Bourkoff about setting up a Trump television network after the upcoming election, according to Financial Times.
Jared Kushner, who is married to Ivanka Trump, has become one of Trump’s most trusted advisors and the Financial Times said the pair “are thinking about how to capitalize on the populist movement that has sprung up around their campaign in the event of an election defeat to Democrat Hillary Clinton next month.”
Bourkoff, who is the founder and chief executive of LionTree, is a friend of Kushner and has advised major media transactions in the past, according to FT. Trump has repeatedly called the media unfair thoroughout the campaign and it was widely assumed he would launch a media empire when he hired Breitbart News exec Steve Bannon to run his campaign. Kushner is somewhat of a media mogul himself, owning newspaper-publishing company the New York Observer.
The Financial Times also points out that former Fox News president and CEO Roger Ailes is a friend of Trump but “would be prohibited from working on a Trump television venture by the terms of his exit agreement” from Fox News. Despite Ailes’ exit agreement, Trump is clearly surrounding himself with people who know how to launch a media empire.
The GOP candidate made his bones as a successful reality-TV host. Trump’s anti-immigration, America-first political views have connected with a large segment of the U.S. population. His name recognition is unbeatable. And the 70-year-old real estate mogul has spent his career plastering that name everywhere.
“I can’t see how he wouldn’t start some type of a modern-day news/entertainment company because he is, if nothing else, the greatest shock jock of all time,” Michael Harrison, the founder and publisher of Talkers magazine, told TheWrap back in August when rumors of Trump TV first popped up.