Donald Trump has named his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to be one of his top advisors for the next four years at the White House. Donald Trump's transition team confirmed his choice for the man who will work side by side with him and his chief of staff, Reince Priebus, and his strategy chief, Stephen Bannon.
On Wednesday, Donald Trump is due to give a press conference where he will explain how he intends to avoid conflicts of interest with his investments and companies during his term as President. Although it is an unusual gesture, this appointment is only the confirmation of something that was already expected.
This is because Jared Kushner was one of the closest people to Donald Trump during his election campaign. The relationship was quietly maintained until victory. It was only later, when Kushner joined the transition team, that his importance to the campaign became known. Jared Kushner is married to Ivanka Trump, the eldest daughter of the US President-elect.
Conflict of interest?
The appointment of Jared Kushner, whose family also made a fortune in the real estate business in New York, may raise some questions about potential conflicts of interest. In these cases, the law is ambiguous. In the law to combat nepotism, written in 1967, it is said that a "holder of public office" cannot name anyone who is his "relative" to a position "in the agency where he works." Still, it is far from certain that the law will prevent Donald Trump from naming his son-in-law to the position of counselor.
In November last year, after winning the election, Donald Trump avoided responding definitively to the possibility of appointing Jared Kushner to some office. Shortly afterwards, without any question in the middle, he spoke of the possibility of Jared Kushner, of Jewish faith, to serve as a mediator between Palestine and Israel.
One can say from appointments like these, and other actions taken by Donald Trump, that, in many ways, he is doing away with conventional methods and plotting his own course as the soon-to-be 45th President of the United States of America.