Jared Kushner

January 10, 1981

Livingston, New Jersey, United States

In 2005, Charles Kushner plead guilty to crimes that included tax evasion and witness tampering, as well as making illegal political campaign donations. He received a two-year prison sentence. The elder Kushner was prosecuted by then U.S. attorney and future New Jersey governor Chris Christie, with whom Jared would later work as part of an advisory team for Donald Trump’s presidential run. When Charles Kushner was in prison, Jared took over the real estate business while maintaining a close relationship to his father. In 2006, Jared Kushner purchased The New York Observer and became a publisher while only in his mid-20s. The following year he made news again with his purchase of a Manhattan office building at 666 Fifth Avenue for the then record sum of $1.8 billion. Kushner became the CEO of Kushner Companies in 2008. Despite coming from a Democratic family, Kushner became a key adviser to Trump as he campaigned to become the Republican nominee for president in 2016. Kushner reportedly worked with Trump on various campaign activities, including merchandising, crafting speeches, social media outreach and the selection of Indiana governor Mike Pence as the vice presidential candidate. In one election controversy, Kushner, along with Trump’s eldest children, had successfully called for the dismissal of campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. Kushner found himself involved in another political storm during the summer when Trump tweeted a meme, originally posted on an alt-right message board, labeling Hillary Clinton as highly corrupt with an image evocative of the Star of David and money in the background. An uproar ensued over the anti-Semitic implications of the post. Kushner defended Trump via the Observer and said his father-in-law was not an anti-Semite, stating that the presidential candidate should not be blamed for messaging from supporters who harbor hate-filled, destructive views. After Trump won the presidential election on November 8, 2016, Kushner became a central part of his transition team. Despite the speculation that Kushner would return to his personal business ventures post-election, it was reported that he had sought legal counsel about the possibility of joining Trump’s administration in some capacity. As a close family member, he faced a possible breach of strict nepotism restrictions in the executive branch, as well as financial conflicts of interest. In 2016, the Kushner family net worth was estimated to be $1.8 billion, the majority of which was in real-estate property holdings, according to Forbes. In January 2017, Donald Trump's transition team announced that Kushner would be named as a senior adviser to the president. On July 24, 2017, Kushner met with Senate Intelligence Committee staff to explain his contact with Russians as part of an ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Prior to the meeting, Kushner released an 11-page statement in which he denied collusion with the Russian government. He also provided details of four meetings he had with Russians during the presidential campaign and Trump’s transition to the White House, including two interactions with the Russian ambassador, a meeting with a Russian banker and another meeting set up by Donald Trump Jr. with a Russian lawyer who offered compromising information about presidential opponent Hillary Clinton. Kusher denied improper contact during these meetings, stating: "I did not collude, nor know of anyone else in the campaign who colluded, with any foreign government.” In early November, CNN reported that Kushner had turned over documents to special counsel Robert Mueller, who was leading his own expansive investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russian officials. According to CNN's sources, Mueller's investigators were looking into Kushner's role in the May 2017 firing of FBI Director James Comey. Kushner soon found himself in the sights of the Senate Judiciary Committee again, over his forwarding of emails that included mention of WikiLeaks and a "Russian backdoor overture and dinner invite." Although other parties had included those emails in submitted documents, Kushner failed to do so. Senators Chuck Grassley and Dianne Feinstein addressed the issue in a letter to Kushner attorney Abbe Lowell, writing, “We appreciate your voluntary cooperation with the Committee’s investigation, but the production appears to have been incomplete.” They asked Kushner to turn over any missing documents by November 27. Lowell replied with a statement that his client had previously complied with their requests. “We provided the Judiciary Committee with all relevant documents that had to do with Mr. Kushner's calls, contacts or meetings with Russians during the campaign and transition," he said. Additional legal problems surfaced in December, when a Washington attorney filed a lawsuit over illegal omissions from Kushner's public financial disclosure forms. According to the suit, both Kushner and Ivanka Trump had neglected to identify the assets owned by numerous investment firms that retained their business, as well as the income derived from two investment vehicles. A White House spokesman dismissed the lawsuit as "frivolous," saying the disclosures of the two presidential advisers satisfied all legal requirements. According to a January 2018 Wall Street Journal article, counterintelligence officials had warned Kushner that Wendi Deng Murdoch, a Chinese-American businesswoman and the former wife of News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch, might leverage her friendship with him to aid Chinese government interests. Murdoch subsequently denied involvement in such endeavors and knowledge of any intelligence agency concerns. In late February 2018, following Chief of Staff John Kelly's announcement that he would overhaul the security clearance process for White House personnel, Kushner’s interim status was downgraded from the top-secret to the secret level, due to the fact that he had yet to receive final clearance. The change was certain to affect the list of responsibilities for Kushner, who previously had access to highly classified information and often accompanied the president on his trips abroad. Shortly afterward, The Washington Post reported that U.S. officials had intercepted conversations from members of at least four foreign governments—China, the United Arab Emirates, Mexico and Israel—about ways in which they could take advantage of Kushner's business dealings and lack of foreign policy experience. According to the report, some in the White House were concerned that Kushner was "naive and being tricked" in conversations with foreign officials. Security issues notwithstanding, Kushner soon joined a delegation that met with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto to discuss matters of security, immigration and trade. The visit was scheduled after Peña Nieto abruptly canceled his planned trip to Washington. In March 2018, news surfaced of Kushner's former real-estate business, the Kushner Cos., filing false reports with New York City in order to skirt rent-control laws. According to the Housing Rights Initiative, the Kushner Cos. submitted at least 80 false applications for construction permits in 34 buildings across the city from 2013 to 2016; the applications indicated that there were no rent-regulated tenants, when in fact there were more than 300. Additionally, some residents complained of construction at all hours after Kushner bought the buildings, which they believed was part of an effort to drive them out and allow the company to hike up rents for new tenants. The Kushner Cos. responded by saying it outsources the preparation of the reports to third parties, and takes immediate corrective steps when mistakes are discovered. "Kushner would never deny any tenant their due-process rights," said the company in a statement. Around that time, The New York Times reported that Citigroup had lent Kushner Cos. and one of its partners $325 million in 2017 after Citigroup’s CEO, Michael Corbat, met with Kushner in the White House. The revelation prompted Democratic lawmakers to request documentation from Kushner Cos., and set off a White House investigation into whether its former head violated any criminal laws or regulations with his actions.

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Photos
Works

Main Photo

Jared Kushner

School period

Gallery of Jared Kushner

Frisch School

Gallery of Jared Kushner

Jared Kushner in childhood

College/University

Gallery of Jared Kushner

New York University

Gallery of Jared Kushner

Grand Central Station 42nd St., New York City, New York, United States

Jared Kushner handing out free copies of The New York Observer's first issue published under his new ownership, in front of Grand Central Station 42nd St., New York City, Feb. 14, 2007.

Achievements

Jared Kushner on Forbes cover

Membership

Fly Club

Awards

Time Magazines "Top 100 Most Influential People of the Year"

Other photo of Jared Kushner

2017

Oval Office, Washington, D.C., United States

Other photo of Jared Kushner

2017

Washington, United States

Jared Kushner on Forbes cover

Other photo of Jared Kushner

Connections

Mother: Seryl Kushner

Father: Charles Kushner

Brother: Joshua Kushner

Sister: Dara Kushner

Sister: Nicole Kushner

Uncle: Murray Kushner

Spouse: Ivanka Trump

Son: Theodore James Kushner

Son: Joseph Frederick Kushner

Daughter: Arabella Rose Kushner

father-in-law: Donald Trump

Donald Trump

colleague: Stephen Miller

Connections

Jared Kushner Edit Profile

also known as Jared Corey Kushner

investor newspaper publisher real-estate developer

Background

Kushner was born on January 10, 1981, in Livingston, New Jersey. Jared is one of four children of Charles Kushner, a billionaire real estate developer who was also a major financial supporter of the Democratic Party and various charities and Seryl Kushner (née Stadtmauer). His paternal grandparents, Reichel and Joseph Kushner, were Holocaust survivors who came to the U.S. in 1949 from Navahrudak, Belarus. Morris Stadtmauer was the grandfather of Jared Kusnher. Kushner was raised in a Modern Orthodox Jewish family.

Kushner has a younger brother, Joshua, and two sisters.

Education

Jared Kushner graduated from the Frisch School, a Modern Orthodox yeshiva high school, in 1999. He was an honors student and a member of the debate, hockey, and basketball teams.

Kushner enrolled at Harvard University in 1999. Journalist Daniel Golden has alleged that Kushner was accepted due to his father's donations and history with the school. He was elected into the Fly Club, supported the campus Chabad house, and bought and sold real estate in Somerville, Massachusetts, as a vice president of Somerville Building Associates (a division of Kushner Companies). Its other vice president was his maternal uncle, Richard Stadtmauer, then vice chairman of Kushner Companies. The venture was dissolved in 2005 after returning a profit of $20 million. Kushner graduated from Harvard in 2003 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in government.

Kushner graduated from New York University in 2007 with dual JD/MBA degrees.

Education period of Jared Kushner in New York University

Education period of Jared Kushner in Harvard University

Career

In 2005, Charles Kushner plead guilty to crimes that included tax evasion and witness tampering, as well as making illegal political campaign donations. He received a two-year prison sentence. The elder Kushner was prosecuted by then U.S. attorney and future New Jersey governor Chris Christie, with whom Jared would later work as part of an advisory team for Donald Trump’s presidential run.

When Charles Kushner was in prison, Jared took over the real estate business while maintaining a close relationship to his father. In 2006, Jared Kushner purchased The New York Observer and became a publisher while only in his mid-20s. The following year he made news again with his purchase of a Manhattan office building at 666 Fifth Avenue for the then record sum of $1.8 billion. Kushner became the CEO of Kushner Companies in 2008.

Despite coming from a Democratic family, Kushner became a key adviser to Trump as he campaigned to become the Republican nominee for president in 2016. Kushner reportedly worked with Trump on various campaign activities, including merchandising, crafting speeches, social media outreach and the selection of Indiana governor Mike Pence as the vice presidential candidate.

In one election controversy, Kushner, along with Trump’s eldest children, had successfully called for the dismissal of campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. Kushner found himself involved in another political storm during the summer when Trump tweeted a meme, originally posted on an alt-right message board, labeling Hillary Clinton as highly corrupt with an image evocative of the Star of David and money in the background. An uproar ensued over the anti-Semitic implications of the post. Kushner defended Trump via the Observer and said his father-in-law was not an anti-Semite, stating that the presidential candidate should not be blamed for messaging from supporters who harbor hate-filled, destructive views.

After Trump won the presidential election on November 8, 2016, Kushner became a central part of his transition team. Despite the speculation that Kushner would return to his personal business ventures post-election, it was reported that he had sought legal counsel about the possibility of joining Trump’s administration in some capacity. As a close family member, he faced a possible breach of strict nepotism restrictions in the executive branch, as well as financial conflicts of interest. In 2016, the Kushner family net worth was estimated to be $1.8 billion, the majority of which was in real-estate property holdings, according to Forbes.

In January 2017, Donald Trump's transition team announced that Kushner would be named as a senior adviser to the president.

On July 24, 2017, Kushner met with Senate Intelligence Committee staff to explain his contact with Russians as part of an ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Prior to the meeting, Kushner released an 11-page statement in which he denied collusion with the Russian government. He also provided details of four meetings he had with Russians during the presidential campaign and Trump’s transition to the White House, including two interactions with the Russian ambassador, a meeting with a Russian banker and another meeting set up by Donald Trump Jr. with a Russian lawyer who offered compromising information about presidential opponent Hillary Clinton.

Kusher denied improper contact during these meetings, stating: "I did not collude, nor know of anyone else in the campaign who colluded, with any foreign government.”

In early November, CNN reported that Kushner had turned over documents to special counsel Robert Mueller, who was leading his own expansive investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russian officials. According to CNN's sources, Mueller's investigators were looking into Kushner's role in the May 2017 firing of FBI Director James Comey.

Kushner soon found himself in the sights of the Senate Judiciary Committee again, over his forwarding of emails that included mention of WikiLeaks and a "Russian backdoor overture and dinner invite." Although other parties had included those emails in submitted documents, Kushner failed to do so.

Senators Chuck Grassley and Dianne Feinstein addressed the issue in a letter to Kushner attorney Abbe Lowell, writing, “We appreciate your voluntary cooperation with the Committee’s investigation, but the production appears to have been incomplete.” They asked Kushner to turn over any missing documents by November 27.

Lowell replied with a statement that his client had previously complied with their requests. “We provided the Judiciary Committee with all relevant documents that had to do with Mr. Kushner's calls, contacts or meetings with Russians during the campaign and transition," he said.

Additional legal problems surfaced in December, when a Washington attorney filed a lawsuit over illegal omissions from Kushner's public financial disclosure forms. According to the suit, both Kushner and Ivanka Trump had neglected to identify the assets owned by numerous investment firms that retained their business, as well as the income derived from two investment vehicles. A White House spokesman dismissed the lawsuit as "frivolous," saying the disclosures of the two presidential advisers satisfied all legal requirements.

According to a January 2018 Wall Street Journal article, counterintelligence officials had warned Kushner that Wendi Deng Murdoch, a Chinese-American businesswoman and the former wife of News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch, might leverage her friendship with him to aid Chinese government interests. Murdoch subsequently denied involvement in such endeavors and knowledge of any intelligence agency concerns.

In late February 2018, following Chief of Staff John Kelly's announcement that he would overhaul the security clearance process for White House personnel, Kushner’s interim status was downgraded from the top-secret to the secret level, due to the fact that he had yet to receive final clearance. The change was certain to affect the list of responsibilities for Kushner, who previously had access to highly classified information and often accompanied the president on his trips abroad.

Shortly afterward, The Washington Post reported that U.S. officials had intercepted conversations from members of at least four foreign governments—China, the United Arab Emirates, Mexico and Israel—about ways in which they could take advantage of Kushner's business dealings and lack of foreign policy experience. According to the report, some in the White House were concerned that Kushner was "naive and being tricked" in conversations with foreign officials.

Security issues notwithstanding, Kushner soon joined a delegation that met with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto to discuss matters of security, immigration and trade. The visit was scheduled after Peña Nieto abruptly canceled his planned trip to Washington.

In March 2018, news surfaced of Kushner's former real-estate business, the Kushner Cos., filing false reports with New York City in order to skirt rent-control laws. According to the Housing Rights Initiative, the Kushner Cos. submitted at least 80 false applications for construction permits in 34 buildings across the city from 2013 to 2016; the applications indicated that there were no rent-regulated tenants, when in fact there were more than 300. Additionally, some residents complained of construction at all hours after Kushner bought the buildings, which they believed was part of an effort to drive them out and allow the company to hike up rents for new tenants.

The Kushner Cos. responded by saying it outsources the preparation of the reports to third parties, and takes immediate corrective steps when mistakes are discovered. "Kushner would never deny any tenant their due-process rights," said the company in a statement.

Around that time, The New York Times reported that Citigroup had lent Kushner Cos. and one of its partners $325 million in 2017 after Citigroup’s CEO, Michael Corbat, met with Kushner in the White House. The revelation prompted Democratic lawmakers to request documentation from Kushner Cos., and set off a White House investigation into whether its former head violated any criminal laws or regulations with his actions.

Achievements

Kushner became one of the most important figures in international politics. The real-estate mogul, rumoured to be worth $200 million, who owns New York’s online Observer magazine and, crucially, is Trump’s son-in-law, has been appointed one of the President-elect’s senior advisers.

He is known for his then-most expensive purchase of single-building property, “666 Fifth Avenue” for $1.8 billion.

In 2017 he featured in the Time 100 list of most influential people in the World.

Religion

Kushner and his wife (who converted to Judaism in 2009) are Modern Orthodox Jews, keep a kosher home, and observe the Jewish Shabbat.

Kushner's Judaism is an important part of his identity. His grandmother was a founder of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Kushners are prominent backers of American Israel Public Affairs Committee. President Trump's allies have defended against charges of anti-Semitism by pointing to his closeness to his Jewish son-in-law.

Politics

Jared Kushner had been a lifelong Democrat prior to Donald Trump entering politics. He had donated over $10,000 to Democratic campaigns starting at young age of 11. In 2008 he donated to the campaign for Hillary Clinton and his newspaper the New York Observer endorsed Barack Obama over John McCain in the US presidential election. but after disappointment with Barack Obama he endorsed Republican US presidential race nominee Mitt Romney in 2012 via the New York Observer. In 2014 he continued to donate to Democratic groups, but he then continued his "ideological conversion" by joining his father-in-law Donald Trump's nascent US presidential campaign in 2015. Kushner had no prior involvement in campaign politics or in government before Trump's campaign.

Views

Quotations: "Donald Trump had a better message and ran a smarter campaign, and that is why he won."

"It doesn’t take a ton of courage to join a mob. It’s actually the easiest thing to do."

"If my father in law’s fast-moving team was careless in choosing an image to retweet, well part of the reason it’s so shocking is that it’s the actual candidate communicating with the American public rather than the armies of handlers who poll-test ordinary candidates’ every move."

"It is an honor to serve our country, 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."

"We should have excellence in government, the government should be run like a great American company. Our hope is that we can achieve successes and efficiencies for our customers, who are the citizens."

"I had already beaten all the senators and all the governors, and I didn't know Steve, i'm my own strategist, and it wasn't like I was going to change strategies because I was facing crooked Hillary."

"I don't blame him, i would have kept Keith with me forever if I could have."

"Reviewing emails recently confirmed my memory that the meeting was a waste of our time and that, in looking for a polite way to leave and get back to my work, I actually emailed an assistant from the meeting after I had been there for 10 or so minutes and wrote, ‘Can you pls call me on my cell? Need excuse to get out of meeting,’."

"I had no improper contacts. I have not relied on Russian funds to finance my business activities in the private sector."

"The Office of American Innovation will bring a creative and strategic approach to many critical issues and intractable problems that affect Americans’ quality of life, we have an opportunity to identify and implement solutions by combining internal resources with the private sector’s innovation and creativity, enabling the federal government to better serve Americans."

"Jerusalem must remain a city that brings people of all faiths together."

"I believe peace is within reach if we dare to believe that the future can be different from the past, that we are not condemned to relive history and that the way things were is not how they must forever be, it will not be an easy road, and it will be filled with difficult moments and tough decisions. But, if we dream big, if we lead with courage, we can change the trajectory for millions from hopeless to boundless."

"I don't want to speak about specifics of the deal we are working on."

"However, I do question how much President Abbas has the ability to, or is willing to, lean into finishing a deal. He has his talking points which have not changed in the last 25 years."

"If President Abbas is willing to come back to the table, we are ready to engage; if he is not, we will likely air the plan publicly, however, I do question how much President Abbas has the ability to, or is willing to, lean into finishing a deal. He has his talking points which have not changed in the last 25 years."

Membership

While at Harvard, he was a member of the Fly club, a social club considered to be Harvard’s version of a fraternity.

Fly Club

Personality

In the New York magazine piece (“The Young Trump: Jared Kushner is more like his father-in-law than anyone realises”), Kushner is presented as bright, though evasive.

Kushner rarely gives interviews and has no social media presence of his own other than a Twitter account that has zero tweets.

He is genteel. Hardly a story has been written about him that doesn't reference his politeness, or the fact that he is soft-spoken and well-behaved. "I’ve never seen any kind of erratic behavior from him," real estate lawyer Robert Ivanhoe told The Real Deal. The publicist Peggy Siegel gushed to Vanity Fair: "Besides being devastatingly handsome, he is well mannered, well bred, and so well turned out."

Physical Characteristics: Jared height is 6 feet (1.83 m). His weight is 86kg. He has dark brown hair and light brown eyes.

Quotes from others about the person

He is a chameleonic figure — a friend told the New Yorker that “he’s really fascinating in that he is a young, boyishly handsome guy who can act and talk like an old man”. New York magazine called his position during the campaign “constructive ambiguity”.

Ivanka Trump once told Forbes that her husband and her father “initially bonded over a combination of me and real estate”. Now, it seems, they have a lot more in common.

Interests

One of his favorite fall traditions-apple picking in New Jersey.
Politicians

Donald Trump
Artists

Kushner and his wife have an art collection, estimated to be worth millions.

Connections

He married to Ivanka Trump, whom "everyone in the family seems to acknowledge" is Donald Trump's "favorite" child, in a Jewish ceremony on October 25, 2009. They had met in 2005 through mutual friends. The couple have three children — Arabella, Joseph and Theodore. Ivanka also converted to Orthodox Judaism, which is Kushner’s faith.

Father:: Charles Kushner
Mother:: Seryl Kushner
Spouse:: Ivanka Trump
Brother:: Joshua Kushner
Sister:: Dara Kushner
Sister:: Nicole Kushner
Uncle:: Murray Kushner
Son:: Theodore James Kushner
Son:: Joseph Frederick Kushner
Daughter:: Arabella Rose Kushner
father-in-law:: Donald Trump
colleague:: Stephen Miller