US President-elect Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, will become a senior White House adviser working on trade and the Middle East, in a rare case of a close presidential family member taking a major job.
Mr Kushner, 35, who is married to Mr Trump's daughter Ivanka, is taking the post after receiving legal counsel that doing so would not violate US anti-nepotism law, transition officials said. The position, unlike cabinet posts, does not require US Senate confirmation, and Mr Kushner will not be paid.
Mr Trump, in a statement on Monday announcing the choice, said Mr Kushner was a "tremendous asset and trusted adviser throughout the campaign and transition."
Mr Kushner, who like Mr Trump is a New York real estate developer, emerged as an important voice early in his father-in-law's presidential campaign and was involved in almost every aspect of it from personnel decisions to strategy and fundraising.
Ivanka Trump, who like her husband has been a close adviser to the president-elect, will not take on a role in her father's White House but will focus on settling her family in Washington.
Mr Kushner and his wife will undertake significant divestments of their wide-ranging financial portfolios as they prepare for their move to Washington from New York and face inevitable questions about a potential conflict of interest.
Senior transition officials and a lawyer for Mr Kushner laid out the arrangement in a conference call with a small group of reporters.
Mr Kushner is to work closely with incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and senior strategist Steve Bannon in advising the new president, and the officials said he would focus at least at first on trade policy and the Middle East.
Mr Trump, who takes office on January 20, has vowed to rewrite international trade deals to make them more favourable to the US. He has also pledged to move the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv, where it has been for 68 years, to Jerusalem, all but enshrining the city as Israel's capital despite international objections.
Jamie Gorelick, a New York lawyer who served as deputy attorney general for Democratic President Bill Clinton and helped advise Mr Kushner, said his new post would not violate a 1967 anti-nepotism statute.
Bill Clinton aroused controversy in 1993 when he named his wife, Hillary Clinton, to lead his healthcare reform drive. She lost the election to Mr Trump. After John F. Kennedy was elected president in 1960, he chose his brother Robert as attorney general.
Reuters
