Newspaper. Office Tower. Marry Ivanka. Did PR Maven Give Jared A Checklist?

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By Daniel J. Solomon April 25, 2017

When dad Charlie Kushner got sent to prison for political wheeling-and-dealing, Jared Kushner reportedly got some advice from Howard Rubenstein, possibly the king of crisis communications in New York City.

Rubinstein, according to a piece in the Huffington Post, apparently told Kushner to buy a newspaper, purchase a Manhattan building and marry a rich New York society woman in order to rid himself of his father’s taint.

It’s not clear if Rubinstein’s advice was the cause, but that sounds a lot like what he did.

He bought up the New York Observer, a then-prestigious New York weekly. He dropped billions on 666 Fifth Avenue, an office tower in the middle of midtown Manhattan. And he wed Ivanka Trump, whose father owned the pink-and-marble skyscraper a few blocks up the way from Kushner’s new digs.

According to the Huffington Post, Kushner is still a creature of public relations, with a swarm of flacks around him. Despite all the staff, he won’t talk to the press himself, giving only one interview to Forbes since after the election, a fact that’s turned him into fodder for comedians.

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon

Daniel J. Solomon is the former Assistant to the Editor/News Writer at the Forward. Originally from Queens, he attended Harvard as an undergraduate, where he wrote his senior thesis on French-Jewish intellectual history. He is excited to have returned to New York after his time in Massachusetts. Daniel’s passions include folk music, cycling, and pointed argument.

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