On Monday, Trump officials confirmed that Jared Kushner — husband of Ivanka Trump — will serve in his father-in-law administration’s as senior White House adviser.
The move isn’t unexpected. Kushner, a 35-year-old real estate developer who reportedly has made at least $3 billion worth of acquisitions since 2005 and also serves the transition team’s executive committee, was one of Trump’s closest advisers during the campaign. But there were at least two potential problems with him coming aboard his father-in-law’s administration in an official capacity — nepotism laws and conflicts of interest.
As ABC has detailed, Hillary Clinton’s service on her husband Bill Clinton’s National Health Care Reform task force while he was president resulted in a federal lawsuit some have interpreted as establishing a precedent that “the White House and Executive Office of the President were not agencies under federal anti-nepotism law.” Trump officials can cite it to justify Kushner serving in his father-in-law’s administration, even if it means he’s not paid for his work.
Kushner’s conflicts of interest are arguably stickier. On Saturday, the New York Times reported that Kushner continued to chase a deal with a state-connected Chinese financial group to redevelop his family’s midtown Manhattan building at 666 Fifth Avenue even after his father-in-law won the election. But in recent days, Kushner has taken steps to distance himself from Kushner Companies.
“Mr. Kushner’s new role became public a day after the disclosure that he would resign as chief executive of Kushner Companies, his family’s real estate firm, and divest himself of ‘substantial assets,’ including the company’s flagship property at 666 Fifth Avenue,” the Times reported on Monday.
A statement sent from Kushner’s attorney to the Times said, “Mr. Kushner is committed to complying with federal ethics laws, and we have been consulting with the Office of Government Ethics regarding the steps he would take.” Those steps include divesting from 666 Fifth — a building Kushner bought for $1.8 billion in 2007 — though Kushner Companies reportedly isn’t planning to sell the building at this time.
Kushner’s moves don’t totally solve his conflict of interest issues. Even if Kushner isn’t running his company, he‘ll still be aware of what assets his company owns and how policy decisions could impact their values. But he’s at least doing more than his father-in-law has done to address his own conflict of interest problems.
Trump is scheduled to hold a news conference on Wednesday during which it’s expected he’ll address his conflicts of interest, including his ongoing ownership of a hotel used by foreign governments — an arrangement which will result in a violation of the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause once he’s sworn in — and the brazen melding of his family and political duties. He hasn’t signaled a willingness to sell the Trump Organization or place his assets in a blind trust — steps every other modern president has taken prior to taking office.
Norman Eisen, Chief Ethics Counsel for Barack Obama, thought Trump’s unwillingness to divest meant the Electoral College should have rejected him last month. But in a new interview with the Times, Eisen suggested that Kushner’s moves could signal a new approach.
“What we are seeing now is, after the initial chaos of the Trump transition, that his nominees are now complying with the requirements of the law,” Eisen said. “Rex Tillerson has retired from Exxon, and now Kushner is doing the same… so it’s going to be hard for Trump to ignore 40 years of precedent and not to do the same.”
We’ll know more on Wednesday.