Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka solidified herself as a recognizable figure thanks to
her dad's celebrity status years ago — but her husband has kept a much lower profile. From how
she met the multi-millionaire businessman, to where he really stands on politics,
this is the truth about Jared Kushner. A Bar mitzvah is a Jewish celebration of
a boy's transition into manhood, serving as an important milestone in a young person's life.
It is often accompanied by a meaningful ceremony, followed by a lively reception
with friends and family. But by the time a young Jared Kushner approached his own bar mitzvah,
it appeared as though the entire city of New York was invited to the party.
His dad Charles had long established himself among Manhattan society
types, and the occasion was used to bring a spotlight focus on the family. According to
The New Yorker, the event was a black-tie gala, hosted at a Midtown Manhattan hotel.
With hundreds in attendance, the guest list even featured then-players for the New York Giants.
Before joining the White House as senior advisor to President Donald Trump, Jared Kushner was known
for his family's Manhattan real-estate business. His dad, Charles, established Kushner Companies in
1985, planning to go into business with his own father, Joe. But, as The New Yorker reported,
"Joe died soon after, and Charles, bereft and left to lead the company alone,
expanded his father's business model."
Kushner Companies further developed into a real-estate business, focusing on property
development, management, debt, and acquisition. The company grew in profit and influence and
now has stake in over 60 buildings in New York City, including apartments and offices.
"There's so much positive momentum for where things are going here,
we really are very excited to be a part of it."
With the simple strategy of targeting
less-than-desirable locations for real estate improvements,
Jared told Multifamily Executive Magazine in 2012 that the company's efforts resulted in,
"A lot of construction and a lot of evictions."
Jared later stepped down as CEO of Kushner Companies in 2017. But not before the family
business was hit with a major scandal. Almost 20 years after Kushner Companies
was established, Charles Kushner was arrested and pleaded guilty to illegal campaign contributions,
witness tampering, and tax evasion. The scandal rocked the family in the mid-2000s,
and a newly-graduated Jared took over as the head of the family and the business.
He quickly set his sights on Manhattan real-estate, and in 2007, made his first
purchase as Kushner Companies CEO; 666 Fifth Avenue, for a record-breaking $1.8 billion,
according to Forbes. Even after his father's arrest and guilty plea,
Jared was not derailed. He told the outlet in 2016,
"The whole thing taught me not to worry about the things you can't control. You
can control how you react and can try to make things happen as you want them to.
I focus on doing my best to ensure the outcomes. And when it doesn't go my way
I have to work harder the next time." In a surprising twist, Jared expanded
his empire by purchasing the Observer, a New York City newspaper known for its ambitious reporting,
often going after the city's financial, real-estate, and advertising elite. But according
to The New Yorker, the publication's editorial style shifted upon Kushner's acquisition.
Kushner reportedly pressured editors into writing a so-called "hit piece" on Chris
Christie — the U.S. Attorney who filed criminal charges against Charles Kushner, in 2004.
Despite the changes in style and the pressures to adopt a new tone,
Kushner all but saved the newspaper, considering it was reportedly on the brink of collapse.
A former employee told Business Insider,
"He bought absolutely, positively, a dying publication in the Observer.
It was a cultural icon, but it was also within hours of becoming a cultural relic.
So when you change something, everyone gets upset, and Jared changed it because
what it was couldn't possibly continue to exist financially."
"We come to the game with attitude, we're not afraid to say what we're thinking,
we're not afraid to really chase down sensational stories."
Kushner stepped down as both publisher and owner of the outlet after accepting his position as
senior advisor in the Donald Trump White House. Jared and Ivanka met in 2007 — and it's no
surprise that they immediately hit it off. They were both part of the Manhattan social scene,
had family backgrounds in real-estate, and had each banked quite a chunk of change.
They were originally set up by a commercial real-estate broker and another mutual friend, who
thought the pair could establish business dealings together. But it quickly became clear that
their interest in each other was far more than strictly professional. Ivanka later told Vogue,
"They very innocently set us up thinking that our only interest in one another
would be transactional. Whenever we see them we're like, 'The best deal we ever made!'"
"Thank you Jared, and thank you Ivanka for marrying Jared and
giving someone else the chance to win 'bachelor' this year."
The couple dated for two years before getting married in 2009 at the Trump National Golf
Club in New Jersey. Ivanka converted to Judaism for her husband and his family,
and the couple are now parents to three children; Arabella, Joseph and Theodore.
This one might come as a shock, but it's anything but fake news:
Jared Kushner's father-in-law may be a Republican President,
but Jared has historically supported Democratic politicians, following in the footsteps of his
own father. Charles donated over $1 million to the Democratic party, according to Forbes,
and Jared previously gave $11,000 to Hillary Clinton and over $60,000 to Democratic committees.
Jared even went so far as to intern for the late Robert Morgenthau,
Manhattan's famed district attorney, while in graduate school. Morgenthau,
who was in office from 1975 until 2009, was described by The New York Times as the quote,
"bane of mobsters and crooked politicians." At the time of this death in 2019, at age 99,
The Washington Post noted that Republicans had even stopped putting up a challenger
to Morgenthau, considering him an unbeatable Democratic force. When
asked about his political affiliation following the 2016 election, Jared simply told Forbes,
"To be determined. […] [There are] some aspects of the Democrat Party that didn't speak to me,
and there are some aspects of the Republican Party that didn't speak to me."
"Jared had a very easy life" "And then one day he said, 'I wanna come down and I wanna
have peace in the Middle East." Kushner's relationship with his father
in law took a major turn in 2015 — setting off a chain of events that would impact the election.
In the Fall of that year, Jared and his dad traveled to Springfield,
Illinois to attend a Trump rally, where Trump told the audience,
"We don't have victories anymore. We're stupid. We have stupid people leading us."
It was in that moment that Jared was inspired,
politically, later describing the experience as a quote, "awakening." He explained to Forbes,
"People really saw hope in his message."
Jared secured a more senior role on the Trump team,
and his passion for the campaign only continued to grow.
Kushner apparently went from taking over Donald Trump's social media strategy
to all but saving his campaign. Kushner's influence grew throughout the 2016 election,
ultimately resulting in the win. Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel told Forbes,
"It's hard to overstate and hard to summarize Jared's role in the campaign.
If Trump was the CEO, Jared was effectively the chief operating officer."
"The American dream is dead. But if I get elected president, I will bring it back."
Kushner's focus on media strategy and campaign exposure resulted in
support from the swing states that mattered most in the election.
Kusher also became known on the campaign trail as the calm to Trump's controversial behavior,
and was able to move the election in the direction of victory. Kushner told the outlet,
"I helped facilitate a lot of relationships that wouldn't have happened otherwise.
People were being told in Washington that if they did any work for the Trump campaign,
they would never be able to work in Republican politics again.
I hired a great tax-policy expert who joined under two conditions:
We couldn't tell anybody he worked for the campaign, and he was going to charge us double."
Politics can pit family members against each other, and the Kushner family is no exception.
After his grandmother's death, Jared and his family reportedly began to grow apart,
and their political rift has apparently only deepened. According to The New Yorker, the divide
rose to the surface in regards his grandmother's legacy; she was a Holocaust survivor, refugee,
and philanthropist. The policies that Kushner has overseen during his appointment in the White
House — like family separation, the U.S.-Mexico border wall, and refugee program cuts — appear to
go against the very fabric of her identity. On the topic, Kushner told The New Yorker,
"It doesn't make a difference one way or the other. In the scheme of
the magnitude of the problem we have, I think that we're doing our best to try
to make as much impact to allow refugees to be able to go back to their places."
"Our proposal builds upon our nation's rich history of immigration,
while strengthening the bonds of citizenship that bind us together."
But not all members of the Kushner family agree with Jared's sentiment.
His first cousin, Marc, reportedly posted on Facebook in 2016,
"I have a different take away from my Grandparents' experience in the war.
It is our responsibility as the next generation to speak up against hate."
President Trump is known for many things: his love of fast-food, his hair, and, of course,
his tweets. Trump's use of the social media platform is close to feverish,
as he tweets daily about his press appearances, critics, policy initiatives,
and basically everything else. His presence in the Twittersphere has been praised by some,
criticized by others, but nevertheless, it remains his pièce de résistance.
"Well let me tell you about Twitter,
I think that maybe I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Twitter."
Kushner, on the other hand, couldn't be more different when it comes to social media.
Although he does have a Twitter account, and has been a verified user since 2009,
he has yet to post a single tweet, retweet, or even a like. Despite his father-in-law's Twitter
activity, and even his wife's consistent use of the platform as well as Instagram,
Kushner has shown no interest — which must be kind of a bummer for his roughly 120,000
followers, as of October 2020, who have yet to get pinged by an original Jared creation.
The District of Columbia is home to some of the most important political figures in the United
States, and the Kushner/Trump family has set up shop in one of the city's most prolific areas.
The Kalorama neighborhood is a historic district that's home to Washington D.C.'s elite and
powerful. The Obama family moved into Kalorama in January 2017 after leaving the White House,
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos owns a sprawling house in the neighborhood, and media figures like Fox
News anchor Chris Wallace and Bloomberg Media Group CEO Justin Smith have also made it home.
Jared and Ivanka similarly rented out a home in Kalamora after Donald Trump moved
into the White House — a $5.6 million white brick mansion, to be exact, for which they pay $15,000
a month, according to Business Insider. The neighborhood is dotted with many beautiful homes,
spacious green spaces like Mitchell Park and the Spanish Steps, as well as "Embassy Row." And of
course, security in the neighborhood is also pretty tight. The Obamas' residence — as well
as the Kushner/Trump family home — is heavily protected by a metal fence and armed guards.
Ivanka Trump has been living life in the spotlight ever since she was a teen — when the media first
began reporting on her high-profile dating life. She has been linked to actors including That 70s
Show's Topher Grace, Pierce Brosnan's son Sean, and even professional athlete and Tour de France
winner Lance Armstrong — although she later told People magazine that they were "just friends."
Still, the relationship that never happened for Ivanka, more to the disappointment of dad
Donald Trump than her, was with then-New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.
Yes. The same Tom Brady that has been married to Gisele Bündchen since 2009.
"I'm here to be just with my wifey that I love so much."
For a reason only Donald Trump could ever know, it's a hypothetical romance that the president
apparently had his heart set on. And even though Jared and Ivanka have been married since 2009,
as well, the relationship that could have been is a bit of a sore spot for the former star of
The Apprentice. While talking about his son-in-law in 2018, Donald Trump joked to The New York Times,
"Jared hasn't been so good for me. […] [I] could have had Tom
Brady [as a son-in-law]. […] Instead, I got Jared Kushner."
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