Booker: I don’t regret fundraising with Kushner and Ivanka

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) says he doesn’t regret fundraising with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump during his 2013 Senate campaign.

Booker told BuzzFeed podcast “Another Round” Saturday that he wasn’t the only national Democrat that accepted money from the president’s daughter and son-in-law at the time. The comments were first published Tuesday.

“Listen, I wouldn’t take a dime from them now, but this was a time when they were Democrats,” Booker said. “I mean, they were supporting Hillary Clinton, uh, and the Kushner family were big New Jersey Democrats, and really helped to fight against [Gov.] Chris Christie [(R)] and a lot of other folks.”

{mosads}Ivanka Trump hosted a fundraiser for the then-Democratic senatorial candidate in 2013 at her Manhattan home. She and Kushner reportedly raised more than $40,000 for his campaign during the first quarter of 2013.

Booker added that no one expected the couple to become White House advisers four years down the road when he accepted the donations.

Booker said people have targeted him for being “in league with the Kushners and the Trumps” despite his frequent criticism of the White House.

“I’m leading, in the Senate, criticism of those folks,” Booker said. “So that’s what you, that’s what folks don’t seem to understand.”