President-elect Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will reportedly play an important role in U.S. Middle East policy, even though he will not formally be part of the administration.
Regional diplomats and Trump allies recognize that Kushner—who has significant financial interests in the Gulf—has forged deep relationships from his position as a senior White House adviser during the first Trump administration, CNN reported on Friday.
“No one on the incoming team has what Jared has, and that is trust. Jared earned it, he didn’t have it at the beginning. He earned it. That takes time to build,” said a diplomat from a Middle Eastern nation.
“Friendships are forever in this region,” an Israeli source who dealt with the first Trump administration told CNN. “My assumption is that his role is much more in his hands than anybody else’s.”
After President Joe Biden took office four years ago, Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, moved to Florida and largely avoided politics. He founded an investment fund shortly after leaving Washington with major backing from sovereign wealth funds in the Gulf, including $2 billion from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
Kushner’s close ties to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as well as to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could allow for more private contacts, the report noted.
The second Trump administration is certain to make the expansion of the landmark 2020 Abraham Accords, which Kushner spearheaded, a cornerstone of its Middle East program with a push toward reaching a historic normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia expected to be front and center of U.S. foreign policy efforts next year.
