Kushner returns to team Trump, as ethical questions swirl

This week, the 44-year-old also emerged as an investor in a bid by Paramount to buy Hollywood giant Warner Bros., which if successful could mean the Trump family partially owning CNN, the president's most-hated news channel.

Kushner and Ivanka served as special advisors in Trump's first term. But after his 2020 election loss they decamped to Florida and Kushner vanished into the private sector, insisting he would not return for a second administration.

Since then, Kushner has founded an investment company largely funded by the same Middle Eastern countries that he dealt with in the first Trump term -- and has become a billionaire, according to Forbes.

That has raised ethical questions about possible conflicts of interest, which Kushner has denied and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has branded "frankly despicable." 

But it has not stopped Trump, who has long mixed business and politics with family, from bringing him back in from the cold. 

"We called in Jared," Trump told the Israeli parliament in October after the Gaza ceasefire deal. "We need that brain on occasion. We gotta get Jared in here."

- 'Trusted family member' -

The White House said that Kushner was giving "valuable expertise" while stressing that he working as an "informal, unpaid advisor."

"President Trump has a trusted family member and talented advisor in Jared Kushner," Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement to AFP, citing Kushner's "record of success" in the Middle East.

Trump and his roving global envoy, businessman Steve Witkoff, "often seek Mr. Kushner's input given his experience with complex negotiations, and Mr. Kushner has been generous in lending his valuable expertise when asked."

The slim, softly-spoken scion of a property empire -- whose father was jailed for tax evasion and later pardoned by Trump -- Kushner faced accusations of inexperience when he joined Trump's first team.

But he ended up playing a key role in Trump's signature diplomatic achievement, the Abraham Accords that saw several Muslim nations recognize Israel.

During that time Kushner, who is Jewish, built enduring relationships with Gulf states like Saudi Arabia.

As Trump sought a Gaza ceasefire in his second term, he turned again to his son-in-law.

Kushner began to be seen around the White House again, and Trump dispatched him and Witkoff to negotiate with Israel, Hamas and Middle Eastern powers.

After the Gaza deal, Kushner said his role was only temporary -- and joked that he was worried Ivanka would change the locks of their Florida mansion and not let him back in if he stayed on.

Yet the following month, Kushner turned up at the Kremlin with Witkoff to meet President Vladimir Putin. Top Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said Kushner "turned out to be very useful."

- Paramount bid role -

Kushner's business interests hit the headlines again this week when it emerged that his private equity firm, Affinity Partners, was among the investors backing Paramount's battle with Netflix to buy Warner Bros.

It added a political twist to the story, as not only has his father-in-law said he would get "involved" in approving any deal, but Trump also appears determined to clamp down on CNN, which is part of Warner.

Kushner founded Florida-based Affinity in 2021, with much of its funding coming from foreign sources, particularly the Middle Eastern governments he'd done business with.

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) gave $2 billion in 2022, the New York Times reported. The Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi-based Lunate Capital together gave around $1.5 billion in 2024, Kushner said in a podcast last year.

Kushner's firm now manages $5.4 billion, according to a press release in September.

A US Senate finance committee launched an inquiry last year into whether Affinity was effectively being used as a foreign influence-buying operation with the Trump family ahead of the 2024 election, saying it had won millions in fees from foreign clients without returning any profits.

Affinity Partners did not reply when contacted by AFP.

Kushner hasn't commented on the Paramount deal, but he has previously rejected any suggestions of ethical breaches, particularly regarding his Gulf ties.

"What people call conflicts of interest, Steve and I call experience and trusted relationships," he told the CBS program "60 Minutes" when it interviewed him and Witkoff in October on the Gaza deal.

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