A helicopter carrying first daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, made an unscheduled return to Washington, D.C. last week after one of its two engines failed during a trip to New York.
According to CNN, which first reported the news, the duo were forced to return to Ronald Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, Thursday afternoon after the helicopter malfunction. They were then forced to take a commercial flight to New York.
One law enforcement source who spoke to CNN said the helicopter was scheduled to take the pair and a member of their security detail to a Manhattan helipad. It’s unclear why they were flying to New York in a hel
icopter versus a plane.
The couple, who have been married more than eight years, lived in New York with their three young children before moving to Washington, D.C. to serve in President Donald Trump’s administration.
It’s been a rocky time for the couple in the White House recently. Late last month, Kushner’s security clearance was downgraded, which prevents him from having access to any sensitive documents that were once available to him.
The pair also reportedly have a fraught relationship with White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, who recently wondered what the couple do all day, according to the Associated Press. The outlet also reports that Kelly is “angered” by the couple’s “freelancing.”
Meanwhile, The New York Times recently reported that President Trump is “frustrated” with Kushner, “whom he now views as a liability,” and that Trump may even be going behind his daughter and son-in-law’s backs to remove them — while simultaneously telling the couple to stay.
A Trump insider recently told PEOPLE that if Kushner and Ivanka leave the White House, the exit will likely come as a relief to the pair.
“If they leave they’ll be happy to go back to their old lives,” said the source. “They love their kids so much and this is so distracting, to be a young family and have all this pressure instead of focusing on the kids. But now Jared’s name will be tarnished, which sucks for them.”
