Jared Kushner facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jared Kushner
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Kushner in 2019
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| Senior Advisor to the President | |
| In office January 20, 2017 – January 20, 2021 |
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| President | Donald Trump |
| Preceded by | Valerie Jarrett Brian Deese Shailagh Murray |
| Succeeded by | Mike Donilon Cedric Richmond |
| Director of the Office of American Innovation | |
| In office March 27, 2017 – January 20, 2021 |
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| President | Donald Trump |
| Deputy | Ja'Ron Smith |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Jared Corey Kushner
January 10, 1981 Livingston, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican (2018–present) |
| Other political affiliations |
Democratic (1999–2009) Independent (2009–2018) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Parent |
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| Relatives |
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| Education | |
| Occupation |
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| Awards | Order of the Aztec Eagle (2018) |
Jared Corey Kushner (born January 10, 1981) is an American businessman and investor. He also worked in government. He is the son-in-law of former president of the United States Donald Trump. He is married to Ivanka Trump.
Kushner served as a senior advisor to President Trump. This was during Trump's first time in office, from 2017 to 2021. He also led the Office of American Innovation.
Before his government role, Kushner worked in real estate in New York City. He took over his family's business, Kushner Companies, in 2005. He also bought The New York Observer newspaper in 2006. He was a Democrat for many years. Later, he became an Independent and then a Republican. He played a big part in Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
As a senior advisor, he helped pass the First Step Act. This law aimed to reform the criminal justice system. He was also key in the Middle East Peace Process. He helped create the Abraham Accords. These agreements normalized relations between Israel and several Arab states. He also helped with the US–Mexico–Canada trade deal.
After leaving the White House, Kushner started a company called Affinity Partners. This company invests money, mostly from a fund in Saudi Arabia.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Jared Kushner was born in Livingston, New Jersey. His parents are Seryl and Charles Kushner. His father was a real estate developer. Jared's grandparents were Holocaust survivors. They came to the U.S. in 1949 from what is now Belarus. His grandmother helped dig a tunnel to escape from a ghetto. She later joined a group of fighters called the Bielski partisans.
Kushner grew up in a Modern Orthodox Jewish family. He went to the Frisch School, a Jewish high school. In 1999, he started at Harvard University. He graduated from Harvard in 2003 with a degree in government.
He then went to New York University School of Law and New York University Stern School of Business. He earned both a law degree and a business degree in 2007.
Business Career
After his father faced legal issues, Jared Kushner took on a larger role in the family real estate business. He worked to expand the company. Over ten years, he bought properties worth almost $7 billion. Many of these were in New York City.
Real Estate Investments
Kushner was involved in real estate even during college. He helped grow the Kushner Companies' presence in New York City.
In 2007, Kushner Companies bought the office building at 666 Fifth Avenue. It cost $1.8 billion, a record price back then. He became CEO in 2008. After a property downturn, the company had to sell parts of the building.
In 2011, Kushner bought an office tower in Manhattan for $50 million. He sold it two years later for $150 million. In 2013, his company bought the Jehovah's Witnesses headquarters in Brooklyn. They turned it into an office park. That same year, Kushner helped start WiredScore. This company rates how well buildings are connected digitally.
From 2013 to 2014, Kushner's company bought over 11,000 homes. These were in New York, New Jersey, and the Baltimore area. In 2015, he bought a large share of the Times Square Building for $295 million.
In 2014, Kushner co-founded Cadre. This is an online platform for real estate investments.
Newspaper Publishing
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In 2006, Kushner bought The New York Observer. This was a weekly newspaper in New York City. He paid $10 million for it. He said he used money he earned from real estate deals in college.
After buying the Observer, Kushner changed its format. He also worked to increase its online presence. The paper's editor-in-chief, Peter W. Kaplan, left his position. Later, Elizabeth Spiers and then Ken Kurson became editors.
Under Kushner, the Observer became profitable. Its website traffic grew significantly. In April 2016, the New York Observer supported Donald Trump for president.
Kushner left his role at the newspaper in January 2017. He did this to work in President Donald Trump's government. His brother-in-law, Joseph Meyer, took over.
Political Career
Political Background
Jared Kushner was a Democrat for most of his life. He donated to Democratic campaigns. In 2008, he donated to Hillary Clinton's campaign. His newspaper, the New York Observer, supported Barack Obama in the 2008 election.
Later, he became an Independent in 2009. He supported Republican Mitt Romney in 2012. In 2015, he joined his father-in-law Donald Trump's presidential campaign. Before this, Kushner had no experience in political campaigns or government.
Presidential Campaign Role
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Kushner was a key person in Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. He designed Trump's digital and social media campaigns. He brought in experts from Silicon Valley. They created a team of 100 people called "Project Alamo." This team tested many ads each week. They raised over $250 million in small donations.
Kushner also helped with speeches. He worked on plans for Trump's White House transition team. He was seen as the campaign's manager for a time. He was involved in campaign strategy. He helped arrange Trump's visit to Mexico. He is also thought to have suggested Mike Pence as Trump's running mate.
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt was surprised by Kushner's role. Schmidt said Kushner "actually ran the campaign and did it with essentially no resources."
Senior Advisor to the President
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On January 9, 2017, Kushner was named Senior Advisor to the President. He resigned from his business roles.
Kushner helped arrange a large arms sale to Saudi Arabia. He also met with Saudi officials at the White House.
His business activities drew attention. He was criticized for mixing government work with his business interests. In 2017, reports said he had not fully shared his financial information. His lawyers said his disclosures followed the rules.
In June 2017, Saudi Arabia and the UAE blocked Qatar. They accused Qatar of helping terrorist groups. Jared Kushner supported the Saudis and Emiratis in this conflict.
Kushner sometimes used a private email for White House business. His lawyer said no secret information was sent this way.
In March 2020, reports said Kushner had sold parts of a company. This company had benefited from tax breaks that Kushner supported as an advisor.
Office of American Innovation
From 2017 to 2021, Kushner led the Office of American Innovation. President Trump created this office in March 2017. Its goal was to use private sector ideas to improve government. This included federal technology spending and economic activity.
Russia Investigation
Kushner's contacts with Russian officials were looked into. This was part of a larger investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Kushner gave an 11-page document about his contacts with Russian figures. He said he had four meetings with Russians. He stated none of these contacts were improper.
In June 2016, Donald Trump Jr., Kushner's brother-in-law, was offered information about Hillary Clinton from the Russian government. A meeting took place on June 9, 2016. Kushner, Trump Jr., and Paul Manafort met with Natalia Veselnitskaya. Kushner found the meeting to be a "waste of time." Investigators did not find any follow-up from this meeting.
Kushner had two phone calls with the Russian ambassador, Sergey I. Kislyak. In December 2016, Kushner met with Kislyak. He also met with Sergey N. Gorkov, who led a Russian state-owned bank. The Mueller investigation looked into these meetings. It did not find evidence of improper actions or follow-up.
In July 2017, Kushner spoke to the House and Senate intelligence committees. This was part of their investigation. His security clearance was later fully restored.
Criminal Justice Reform — FIRST STEP Act
Kushner strongly supported the Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person Act (FIRST STEP ACT). This was a bill to reform criminal justice. President Trump signed it into law in December 2018. The law aimed to reduce sentences for some non-violent crimes. It also improved prison programs to help people after release.
Middle East Peace Plan and Abraham Accords
Trump put Kushner in charge of peace efforts in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Kushner traveled to Israel and Palestine in 2017. He met with leaders to try and restart peace talks.
Donald Trump officially revealed a peace plan written by Kushner in January 2020. Representatives from some Arab countries attended. Palestinian representatives were not invited. The plan offered Palestinians a path to an independent state. However, it was seen as favoring Israel. Both Palestinian leaders and some Israeli groups rejected it.
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Kushner then helped with talks that led to the Abraham Accords. These agreements normalized relations between United Arab Emirates and Israel in August 2020. This was the first time an Arab country normalized ties with Israel since 1994. As part of the deal, Israel paused its plans to annex West Bank settlements. Kushner led the first commercial flight from Israel to the UAE.
Soon after, Bahrain also agreed to normalize relations with Israel. This deal was closed in September 2020. All three countries signed the Abraham Accords at the White House.
Later, Kosovo, Sudan, and Morocco also agreed to normalize ties with Israel. Kushner was involved in these agreements. For his work in the Middle East, Kushner has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize twice.
US–Mexico–Canada Agreement
Kushner helped with talks to change the NAFTA trade deal. He worked with officials from Mexico and Canada. He convinced Trump not to withdraw from NAFTA. Instead, they started formal trade talks.
In August 2018, the U.S. and Mexico reached a deal. Canada joined a month later. The new trade deal was called the US–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA). Officials said the deal would not have happened without Kushner's efforts. Mexico's President Enrique Peña Nieto gave Kushner the Order of the Aztec Eagle. This is Mexico's highest honor for non-Mexicans.
2020 Election Aftermath
Kushner did not take part in efforts to overturn the 2020 U.S. presidential election. He focused on his Middle East diplomacy work. He also started writing a book.
He met with advisors for the new Biden administration. This was to help with the transfer of power. During the 2021 United States Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, he was returning from a diplomatic trip.
On January 11, 2021, he helped arrange a meeting between Vice President Mike Pence and Donald Trump. This was to try and improve their relationship.
In March 2022, he spoke to the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack. He was the highest-ranking Trump official and first family member to be interviewed.
Career After Trump Administration
Saudi Arabia Investment Fund
Six months after leaving the White House, Kushner started an investment firm called Affinity Partners. This firm received over $2 billion in funding. Most of this money came from the Saudi government's Public Investment Fund. Kushner said he hopes to create an "investment corridor between Saudi Arabia and Israel." This shows growing ties between these two countries.
Some people raised concerns about this investment. They pointed out Kushner's past role in government. The House Oversight Committee started an investigation. They wanted to see if Kushner used his government position to get the deal.
The fund plans to invest Saudi money in startup companies in Israel. This is a new step for the Saudi Public Investment Fund.
Political Memoir: Breaking History
Kushner wrote a book about his time in the White House. It is called Breaking History: A White House Memoir. It was published in August 2022.
Personal Life
Jared Kushner has a younger brother, Joshua, and two sisters, Dara and Nicole. He married Ivanka Trump in a Jewish ceremony on October 25, 2009. They met in 2005.
Kushner and his wife Ivanka are Modern Orthodox Jews. They keep a kosher home and observe the Jewish Shabbat. They have three children: a daughter born in 2011 and two sons born in 2013 and 2016.
In 2004, Kushner's father pleaded guilty to several charges. These included tax fraud and election violations. The case was handled by Chris Christie. Christie later became Governor of New Jersey.
In 2017, financial reports showed Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump had assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars. They also have an art collection.
Kushner was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in October 2019. He had treatment for it while working in the White House. He had a second surgery in August 2022. Kushner appeared in the 2022 documentary Unprecedented.
Honors
| Country | Date | Appointment | Ribbon | Source |
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 United States |
2020 | National Security Medal |  |
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| 2021 | Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service |  |
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 Mexico |
2018 | Grand Cordon of the Order of Ouissam Alaouite | .svg){kind=small} |
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 Morocco |
2021 | Sash of the Order of the Aztec Eagle |  |
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 Hungary |
2022 | Commander's Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit | _3class_BAR.svg){kind=small} |
Selected Publications
- Kushner, Jared (March 14, 2021). "Opinion | Opportunity Beckons in the Mideast" (in en-US). The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. https://www.wsj.com/articles/opportunity-beckons-in-the-mideast-11615750526.
See Also
In Spanish: Jared Kushner para niños
- Kushner family
- Mueller Report
- Links between Trump associates and Russian officials and spies
- Special Counsel investigation (2017–present)
- Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections
