Trump’s son-in-law named top adviser

WASHINGTON: President-elect Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, will become a senior White House adviser working on trade and the Middle East, transition officials said yesterday, in a rare case of a close presidential family member taking a major job.

Kushner, 35, who is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, is taking the post after receiving legal counsel that doing so would not violate US anti-nepotism law, transition officials said.

The position, unlike cabinet posts, does not require Senate confirmation, and Kushner will not be paid.

Trump, in a statement yesterday announcing the choice, said Kushner was a “tremendous asset and trusted adviser throughout the campaign and transition”.

Kushner, who like Trump is a New York real estate developer, emerged as an important voice early in his father-in-law’s presidential campaign and was involved in almost every aspect of it from personnel decisions to strategy and fundraising.

Ivanka, who like her husband has been a close adviser to the president-elect, will not take on a role in her father’s White House but will focus on settling her family in Washington.

Kushner and his wife will undertake significant divestments of their wideranging financial portfolios as they prepare for their move to Washington from New York and face inevitable questions about a potential conflict of interest. – Reuters