Jared Kushner May Skirt Nepotism Rules by Advising Donald Trump for Free

Image by Getty Images
WASHINGTON — Jared Kushner, a son-in-law of President-elect Donald Trump and a key campaign adviser, is considering counseling Trump without a salary to work around federal anti-nepotism laws, according to reports.
The Associated Press and other media reported Monday that Kushner, 35, is exploring the legality of staying on as an unpaid adviser when Trump assumes the presidency.
Laws in place since after President John F. Kennedy named his brother Robert attorney general ban a president from nominating or appointing close family, including in-laws, to administration positions.
Kushner, an Orthodox Jew, is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, and has helped shape Trump’s Israel policies, which shifted over the campaign from cool to embracing the positions of the right-wing pro-Israel community, including recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and tamping down criticism of settlements.
Ivanka Trump has said she would not work in a Trump administration.
Trump reportedly is seeking security clearances for his two adult sons, as well as Kushner and Ivanka Trump.
The adult Trump children will continue to run his real estate development and branding businesses.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
News Who is Alan Garber, the Jewish Harvard president who stood up to Trump over antisemitism?
- 3
News Student protesters being deported are not ‘martyrs and heroes,’ says former antisemitism envoy
- 4
Opinion What Jewish university presidents say: Trump is exploiting campus antisemitism, not fighting it
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion How Trump’s attacks on the university target what has made America great for Jews
-
Culture This Jewish New Yorker survived the Holocaust and the Hungarian Revolution, and is still helping others today
-
Fast Forward Trump says he and Netanyahu are ‘on the same side of every issue’ following talks on Iran, tariffs
-
Fast Forward California school board members accused of antisemitism during contentious meeting
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.