Trump ‘losing faith’ in son-in-law Kushner

Donald Trump’s relationship with Jared Kushner is said to be under strain amid questions about both men’s ties to Russia.

Donald Trump and Jared Kushner take part in a bilateral meeting with Italy's Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni last week. Picture: AFP.

President Trump’s relationship with Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and senior White House adviser, is said to be under strain as questions swirl about both men’s ties to Russia.

Yesterday Mr Trump marked Memorial Day by travelling to Arlington National Cemetery to pay tribute to fallen troops. He said words could not express “the purity of their love or the totality of their courage”. Rex Tillerson, the secretary of state, joined almost a million bikers on Sunday as they rode from the Pentagon to the National Mall and the Vietnam Memorial.

Mr Trump was expected to return to the White House to consider reshuffling his staff, with speculation that he has even lost confidence in the son-in-law he has trusted with his most delicate diplomatic tasks.

Mr Kushner, 36, has long been considered a moderating force inside the West Wing. In recent days, however, Democrats have demanded that his security clearances be reviewed after it was discovered that he approached a Russian diplomat to try to create a secret communications channel with Moscow before Mr Trump took office.

The White House has argued that a back channel to the Kremlin would have been diplomatically shrewd.

Behind the scenes, however, Mr Trump is said to have grown frustrated. The relationship reportedly began to fray this month when Mr Kushner predicted that sacking James Comey, the FBI director, would yield Mr Trump a “political win”, only for the dismissal to plunge the White House into crisis mode.

According to The New York Times, Mr Trump was also angered by an online video of Mr Kushner’s sister, Nicole Meyer, courting investment for a building project from the Chinese in Beijing. Ms Meyer pitched a scheme that gives foreigners a fast track to US citizenship if they invest $500,000 in the US, saying her project was backed by “my entire family”.

The president said that his son-in-law had his support. “Jared is doing a great job for the country,” he said. “I have total confidence in him. He is respected by virtually everyone and is working on programs that will save our country billions of dollars.”

Mr Kushner has been called “the secretary of everything” — a reference to his vast portfolio, which includes brokering a Middle East peace deal and streamlining the federal government.

The Times