jared kushner is working for free as President Donald Trump's senior adviser. Now his wife Ivanka Trump has joined him in the White House as her father's assistant, and she is working for free. How can both people in the same household work for free? How do they pay their bills and buy food? The president's daughter and son-in-law can do it with a combined net worth of as much as $741 million. President Donald Trump also turned down his presidential salary of $400,000 a year.
Richest administration ever
President Donald Trump's administration has been described as the richest administration in American history.
Members of Trump's senior staff and cabinet are worth an estimated $12 billion, according to a report prepared by Bloomberg that was revealed on Friday night, March 31.
While the others will get paid for being on the staff at the White House, Jared Kushner gave up the most. He was the chief executive of his family's real estate investment firm with more than 200 holdings across the country. Even though Kushner turned the business over to his brother, Josh, he still gets money from it to live on.
The same goes for his wife who also turned over management of her businesses to her brother-in-law, Josh Kushner and sister-in-law Nicole Meyer. She is not running her businesses, but she is receiving financial gain from them that is estimated to be more than $50 million.
Matter of ethics
There seems to be a thin line between what is ethical and what's not when it comes to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump's positions in the White House. Even though they are not getting paid for the work they are doing in Trump's administration, they are still benefitting financially from the businesses they have a stake in.
They might not be doing the hands on activities, but the amount of their paychecks depends on the success of their companies.
Larry Noble, a former general counsel and chief ethics officer for the Federal Election Commission believes that it is an important step that Jared and Ivanka have removed themselves from the management of their businesses.
However, he thinks it is unethical because they still benefit financially by how well their businesses do. According to Noble, this still seems like conflicts of interest. Since the son-in-law and daughter will know what's going on in the White House at all times, it will be difficult to keep information away from them that could impact their financial interest.
