Trump’s son-in-law cleared for White House position
Opinion appears to reverse past Justice rulings
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has issued an opinion saying that President Donald Trump’s appointment of his son-inlaw, Jared Kushner, as a senior White House adviser does not violate federal anti-nepotism laws.
In a 14-page opinion issued Friday by the department’s Office of Legal Counsel, government lawyers said the president’s special hiring authority exempted White House positions from federal laws barring the president from appointing relatives to lead a federal agency.
Some legal experts had raised concerns that Kushner’s appointment violated a 1967 law that was intended to curtail nepotism in the federal government. Six years earlier, President John F. Kennedy had appointed his brother Robert as attorney general.
The new Justice Department opinion cited a subsequent 1978 law that gives the president the authority to appoint White House staff members without regard to other laws restricting employment and compensation of federal employees.
It appeared to reverse previous ones from the Justice Department. During Jimmy Carter’s presidency, the opinion noted, the department said his son could not serve as an unpaid assistant to a White House staff member. It did not say how Kushner’s situation was different.
The decision issued Saturday paves the way for Kushner, 35, to have nearly unfettered access to Trump in the Oval Office.
Kushner is Trump’s closest adviser and was a figure of stability throughout the campaign and the transition.
Trump announced Jan. 9 that he would appoint Kushner to the post and that Kushner would not accept a salary.
Some prominent Washington ethics lawyers — including White House eth- ics lawyers in the Obama and George W. Bush administrations — had said they supported allowing Kushner to hold a formal position in the White House because that would make him subject to conflict of interest laws.
He will be legally prevented from taking any action that could benefit his businesses or those of his family, including his wife, Ivanka Trump.
He also will be required to file a financial disclosure report that details his assets and income, and to divest holdings that could create a conflict of interest.
Kushner intends to sell some assets and to put others into a trust overseen by his mother, said Jamie Gorelick, a lawyer who has worked on the plan.