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People say that Trump would never get rid of Kushner, but with the heat from last week, who knows. But without Kushner who'll give us peace in the middle east, solve the opiod crisis, streamline government, and reform VA care?
Over the past week, Mr. Kushner, who at age 36 occupies an ill-defined role somewhere between princeling and President Trumps shadow chief of staff, has seen his foothold on that invaluable real estate shrink amid revelations that he has faced new scrutiny in a federal investigation into secret discussions with Russian officials during the presidential transition period.
Mr. Kushner, an observant Jew, spent the Sabbath in fretful seclusion with his wife, Ivanka Trump, at his father-in-laws resort in Bedminster, N.J., unplugged, per religious custom, from electronics. But he emerged defiant and eager to defend his reputation in congressional hearings, according to two of his associates.
What is less clear is how his high-profile woes will affect Mr. Kushners hard-won influence on a mercurial father-in-law who is eager to put distance between himself and a scandal that his swamping his agenda and, he believes, threatening his family.
Some Democrats are calling on the president to revoke Mr. Kushners security clearances. Representative Adam B. Schiff, the California Democrat who is the co-chairman of the House committee probing Russian efforts to sway the 2016 election, suggested in an interview Sunday that the recent news reports about Mr. Kushner have brought the investigation from the periphery of Mr. Trumps campaign and transition teams directly into the Oval Office.
If these stories are accurate in their description of Mr. Kushner and Michael T. Flynn, Mr. Trumps ousted national security adviser, were they acting at the behest of Mr. Trump, then-candidate or president-elect Trump? But whether they were or not, theyre still significant.
In a statement to The New York Times on Sunday night, Mr. Trump said: Jared is doing a great job for the country. I have total confidence in him. He is respected by virtually everyone and is working on programs that will save our country billions of dollars. In addition to that, and perhaps more importantly, he is a very good person.
But in recent weeks the Trump-Kushner relationship, the most stable partnership in an often unstable West Wing, is showing unmistakable signs of strain.
That relationship had already begun to fray following Mr. Trumps dismissal of the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, which Mr. Kushner had strongly advocated, and because of his repeated attempts to oust Stephen K. Bannon, Mr. Trumps chief strategist, as well as the presidents overburdened communications team, especially Sean Spicer, the press secretary.
It was duly noted in the White House that Mr. Trump, who feels that he has been ill served by his staff, has increasingly included Mr. Kushner when he dresses down aides and officials, a rarity earlier in his administration and during the campaign.
The most serious point of contention between the president and his son-in-law, two people familiar with the interactions said, was a video clip this month of Mr. Kushners sister, Nicole Meyer, pitching potential investors in Beijing on a Kushner Companies condominium project in Jersey City. At one point, Ms. Meyer who remains close to her brother dangled the availability of EB-5 visas to the United States as an enticement for Chinese financiers willing to shell out $500,000 or more.
For Mr. Trump, Ms. Meyers performance violated two major rules. Politically, it undercut his immigration crackdown, and in a personal sense, it smacked of profiteering off Mr. Trump one of the sins that warrants expulsion from his orbit.
In the following days, the president made several snarky, disparaging comments about Mr. Kushners family and the visas during routine West Wing meetings that were clearly intended to express his annoyance, two aides said.
Mr. Kushner did not respond, at least not in earshot.
His preppy aesthetic, sotto voce style and preference for backstage maneuvering seemingly sets him apart from his father-in-law but the similarities outweigh the differences. Both men were reared in the freewheeling, ruthless world of real estate, and both possess an unshakable self-assurance that is both their greatest attribute and deadliest vulnerability.
Mr. Kushners reported feeler to the Russians even as President Barack Obama remained in charge of American foreign policy was a trademark move by someone with a deep confidence in his own abilities that critics say borders on conceit, people close to him said. And it echoes his history of sailing forth into unknown territory, including buying a newspaper at age 25 and developing a data-analytics program that he has said helped deliver the presidency to his father-in-law.
He is intensely proud of his accomplishments in the private sector and has repeatedly suggested his tenure in Washington will hurt, not help, his brand and bottom line.
That unfailing self-regard has not endeared him to the rest of the staff. Resentful Trump staffers have long talked about Jared Island, to describe the special status occupied by Mr. Kushner, who, in their view, is given license to exercise power and take on a vague portfolio Middle East peace and innovation are its central components without suffering the consequences of failure visited by the president on mere hirelings.
Adding to the animus: Mr. Kushners aloof demeanor and his propensity for avoiding messy aspects of his job that he would simply rather not do he has told associates he wants nothing to do with the legislative process, for instance. He also has a habit, they say, of disappearing during crises, such as his absence on a family ski trip when Mr. Trumps first health care bill was crashing in March.
Mr. Bannon, a onetime Kushner ally turned adversary known for working himself into ill health, has taken to comparing the former real estate executive to the air, because he blows in and out of meetings leaving little trace, according to one senior Trump aide. Just as Mr. Trump does, he quickly forms fixed opinions about people, sometimes based on scant evidence. But Mr. Kushner is quicker to admit to others when he has misjudged a situation, and to change course.
Despite the perception that he is the one untouchable adviser in the presidents inner circle, Mr. Kushner was not especially close to his father-in-law before the 2016 election. The two bonded when Mr. Kushner helped take over the campaigns faltering digital operation, and selling a reluctant Rupert Murdoch on the viability of his father-in-laws candidacy by showing him videos of Mr. Trumps rally during a lunch at Fox headquarters in mid-2015.
When asked by friends and associates to describe the source of his influence over the president, Mr. Kushner has offered explanations rooted in loyalty, family and, above all, his acceptance that Mr. Trump is a 70-year-old man of fixed habits who cannot be easily diverted from a course of action he is committed to.
Mr. Kushner is fond of telling friends that he does not have any vested interests beyond seeing his father-in-law succeed. Many of the people working for Mr. Trump are not looking out for the boss, but I am, Mr. Kushner told a visitor a few days before the Russia news broke.
My job is to put him in a good place, Mr. Kushner told another person he spoke to before embarking on the Middle East leg of Mr. Trumps trip, which he planned.
Oftentimes, that entails soothing Mr. Trump. Other times, he serves as a goad, as he did in urging Mr. Comeys ouster and assuring him that it would be a political win that would neutralize protesting Democrats because they had called for his ouster over his handling of Hillary Clintons use of a private email server, according to six West Wing aides.
His West Wing civil war with Mr. Bannon has been a damaging distraction, and according to several upper level staffers, Mr. Kushner has made it plain that they needed to choose sides or be iced out from an increasingly influential team that included Gary D. Cohn, the director of the National Economic Council, and a handful of other Kushner-allied power brokers like Dina Powell, a national security official.
Mr. Kushner remains infuriated by what he believes to be a series of leaks about his team by Mr. Bannon, who has privately cautioned Mr. Trump against being captured by liberal, New York globalists associated with his son-in-law, according to three people close to the president.
Mr. Trump, however, has had enough. He recently chided Mr. Kushner for continuing to call for Mr. Bannons ouster, saying he wouldnt fire his conservative populist adviser who has deep connections with Mr. Trumps white working-class base simply because Mr. Kushner wanted him out, according an administration official.
People say that Trump would never get rid of Kushner, but with the heat from last week, who knows. But without Kushner who'll give us peace in the middle east, solve the opiod crisis, streamline government, and reform VA care?
Mr. Trump said: Jared is doing a great job for the country. I have total confidence in him. He is respected by virtually everyone and is working on programs that will save our country billions of dollars. In addition to that, and perhaps more importantly, he is a very good person.
