Albania: Ex-GOP operative brutally mocks glaring hole in Ivanka's island story

https://www.rawstory.com/ivanka-albania-island/

Ex-GOP operative brutally mocks glaring hole in Ivanka's island story

Bennito L. Kelty
June 6, 2026 11:02PM ET

Ivanka Trump's story about how she and Jared Kushner seemed to stumble upon the Albanian island where they want to build their $1.4 billion resort has a glaring hole, according to an ex-GOP operative.

Steve Schmidt couldn't help but laugh during his podcast and sing "Albania! Albania!" while he broke apart Ivanka's story about discovering the island while swimming in the Mediterranean Sea and then walking ashore to explore it.

"She got five words in," before she started lying, as he notes that "She would have stepped on her first landmine."

Schmidt explained with the help of his guest, Canadian podcaster Dean Blundell, that the Albanian island of Sazan is littered with landmines and ordnance.

On top of that, even though Ivanka says the island is in the Mediterranean, Blundell points out that it sits squarely "in the Adriatic" Sea.

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