NEW YORK // The legal community has weighed in on president-elect Donald Trump’s appointment of his son-in-law Jared Kushner as a White House senior adviser, putting the young real estate executive in position to exert broad sway over both domestic and foreign policy, including Middle East issues.
Experts have offered differing views about whether Mr Trump’s decision to hire his son-in-law at the White House violates a 50-year-old federal law.
Mr Trump’s transition team argued there is no legal problem with Mr Kushner serving in the White House because an anti-nepotism law enacted in 1967 does not apply to the president’s staff. But some law professors and ethicists were not so certain.
Norman Eisen, who served as President Barack Obama’s government ethics lawyer, said it was a “murky legal landscape”.
Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University, said her analysis of the anti-nepotism statute is that is does apply to the White House.
“Congress didn’t in this law carve out an exception for the White House. It’s quite broad in scope. It applies to the executive branch, the legislative branch, the judicial branch, the DC government,” Ms Clark said.
Mr Trump has come to rely heavily on Mr Kushner, who is married to the president-elect’s daughter Ivanka.
Mr Kushner has played a key role in coordinating Mr Trump’s contacts with foreign leaders and has been talking with foreign government officials, according to a person with knowledge of the conversations.
On Sunday, Mr Kushner and senior adviser Steve Bannon – the controversial conservative media executive – met with British foreign minister Boris Johnson.
He is also involved in issues related to Israel, including discussions over moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, which could inflame tensions in the Middle East, and on the Trump administration’s response to a United Nations Security Council measure condemning Israeli settlements.
* Associated Press
