One of the most influential voices in the Trump camp to get a wide-ranging portfolio
By Peter Nicholas and
President-elect Donald Trump is hiring his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as a senior adviser in the West Wing, giving him a sweeping portfolio and status that will make him one of the most influential figures in the administration.
Mr. Kushner, who turns 36 on Tuesday, will wade into some of the most consequential issues facing the new administration: trade deals, Middle East peace and overall government operations, among them, transition officials said.
“Jared has been a tremendous asset and trusted adviser throughout the campaign and transition and I am proud to have him in a key leadership role in my administration,” Mr. Trump said in a statement.
In an effort to avoid financial conflicts of interest, Mr. Kushner plans to sell most of his sizable portfolio to family members and others, people familiar with his plans said. He won’t take a salary, these people said.
Another hurdle for Mr. Kushner is a federal anti-nepotism statute. His attorney concluded the law doesn’t bar him from serving, but others disagree.
Not since Bobby Kennedy served as attorney general in brother John F. Kennedy’s White House in the early 1960s has a president elevated a family member to such a potentially powerful role. President Bill Clinton during his first term assigned his primary domestic policy goal—health-care reform—to his wife, Hillary Clinton. It failed to pass.
THE TRUMP TRANSITION
“It is an honor to serve our country,” Mr. Kushner, who is married to Mr. Trump’s eldest daughter, Ivanka, said in a statement. “I am energized by the shared passion of the president-elect and the American people and I am humbled by the opportunity to join this very talented team.”
In anticipation of his new job, Mr. Kushner has been consulting with private attorneys about navigating potential conflicts of interest and a federal anti-nepotism law.
Mr. Kushner will resign his positions as chief executive of the Kushner Cos. real-estate organization and as publisher of the New York Observer newspaper, according to his attorney, Jamie Gorelick.
Mr. Kushner will divest various holdings, though he will retain some assets, she said. When faced with an issue that could have an impact on his remaining financial interests, Mr. Kushner will recuse himself, she said.
One major obstacle facing Mr. Kushner is a 1967 statute put in place following the Kennedy administration that stipulates that government officials are barred from employing relatives—including sons-in-law—in agencies over which they exercise control.
Ms. Gorelick said that law doesn’t bar Mr. Kushner from serving as a presidential adviser. She cited a separate law that Congress passed in 1978 establishing that presidents have “total discretion” in White House hiring.
“I’m not saying there isn’t an argument on the other side,” Ms. Gorelick said. “I just think we have the much better argument.”
Other ethics experts disagreed, saying the law is clear and that anti-nepotism requirements have been strictly enforced in the past.
Richard Painter, the chief White House ethics lawyer for Republican President George W. Bush, recalled a senior official during the Bush administration asking if his son could get a White House internship. He was turned down.
Kathleen Clark, a legal ethics expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, said the nepotism rules apply even if Mr. Kushner doesn’t accept a salary in the Trump administration, pointing to other government ethics statutes that apply to officials regardless of whether they are paid.
“It’s not as though if you can forgo a salary, you can get a carte blanche and ignore ethics rules,” said Ms. Clark, adding that a legal challenge may be in the offing.
“President-elect Trump appears to be attempting to violate the anti-nepotism statute and see whether he can get away with it,” she said.
In the new administration, Mr. Kushner’s job could also create tensions and turf battles with cabinet members wary of his unfettered access and personal relationship with Mr. Trump.
During the presidential campaign, Mr. Kushner worked behind the scenes with Mr. Trump’s adult children to have campaign manager Corey Lewandowski replaced. They also weighed in heavily on the choice of vice president-elect Mike Pence as a running mate over higher profile backers of Mr. Trump, including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
In a sign of his stature, Mr. Kushner accompanied Mr. Trump to the White House two days after the election and took a walk on the South Lawn with President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, Denis McDonough. One person close to the transition said Mr. Kushner’s opinion carries more weight with Mr. Trump than possibly anyone else in the incoming president’s orbit.
Mr. Obama hired a friend, Valerie Jarrett, as a senior adviser and over the years some other top White House aides have resented her access. Still, she served all eight years at Mr. Obama’s side.
Mr. Kushner’s duties will overlap with officials in the State Department, Commerce Department and the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office, among others.
The White House chief of staff has traditionally played a gatekeeper role, controlling who gets to see the president. But it isn’t clear that incoming chief of staff Reince Priebus or anyone else will have sufficient clout to tell Mr. Kushner when he can enter the Oval Office.
Ivanka Trump, at this point, doesn’t have plans to take a position with the Trump administration, people familiar with her planning said. She is likely to play a role in child-care issues, a longtime interest of hers.
Ms. Trump is planning to resign from any officer or director position with the Trump Organization and her Ivanka Trump branded businesses, these people said.
Ms. Trump also plans to restructure her participation in numerous Trump Organization transactions so that she no longer participates directly in their profits. Rather, she will receive fixed payments from the revenue of a diversified pool of projects, said those with knowledge of her actions.
The couple is planning to move to Washington, D.C., having recently purchased a home in the same neighborhood where Mr. Obama and his family plan to move once he leaves office.
When it comes to his businesses, Mr. Kushner intends to divest more than 35 of his holdings by selling them primarily to family members, according to people familiar with the matter. For example, he will be selling his stake in the Manhattan office tower at 666 Fifth Ave. to a trust, of which his mother is the trustee, these people said.
Other assets will be sold to his brother, Josh Kushner, and some might also be sold to third parties, people said. The family and its advisers are currently going through the process of determining the market value of the entities he will sell, these people said.
Family members will pay Jared Kushner in cash and he will put the proceeds in approved investments like Treasury bonds and broadly diversified and widely held mutual funds, according to people familiar with the matter.
One of the constraints facing Mr. Kushner is the high value of many of his assets and the financial pressures his family would face to raise the money to buy them, people familiar with the matter said. Mr. Kushner and his advisers are making a priority of selling assets that pose the greatest risk of conflicts first, these people said.
Mr. Kushner also plans to work with the Office of Government Ethics to recuse himself from participating in matters that would have an impact on any assets that he continues to own, according to people familiar with the matter. The assets that will most likely require such recusals would be his New York real estate holdings and the stake his wife owns in the new Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., these people said.