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 He said it was Jared Kushner, a 35-year-old real estate investor
and newspaper owner, who had suggested the get-together last month,
arguing that it would enable Trump to win more allies on Capitol
Hill, according to a person in the room.
Kushner is also Trump's son-in-law, having married the Republican
presidential front-runner's daughter Ivanka in 2009.
A real-estate tycoon like his father-in-law, Kushner has emerged as
one of a very few advisers as Trump seeks the Republican nomination
to the Nov. 8 election, according to five people close to Trump.
It is especially rare given that Trump styles himself as his own
best adviser and has said he consults only a few people despite a
promise to hire the country's top minds once he becomes president.
While "well respected," Kushner has no official campaign role, Trump
spokeswoman Hope Hicks said. She confirmed however that Kushner had
helped with the Sessions meeting and had informally advised the
candidate on Israel and in other areas.
In an interview Kushner's friend David Schulhof, founder of a music
publishing company, cited a level-headedness and listening skill
that would make Kushner a calming influence.
This could be helpful to Trump, 69, who entered the race 10 months
ago hailing his having never held public office as an asset, but
whose campaign has been rocked by turbulence over remarks offensive
to women, Muslims, immigrants, party loyalists and others.
At times Kushner has urged Trump to behave like a more traditional
candidate, stressing the importance of building relationships with
politicians and traditionally active donors, say the sources close
to Trump, speaking on condition of anonymity.
They also say Kushner can use friendships like the ones he has with
media mogul Rupert Murdoch and billionaire Ronald Perelman as a
bridge to influential people with whom his father-in-law is not
close. Neither Murdoch nor Perelman would comment for this story.
ISRAEL CONNECTIONS
An Orthodox Jew, whose wife Ivanka converted to Judaism before they
married, Kushner and his family have connections to Israel. Along
with his father, also a prominent real-estate developer, Kushner was
listed in a 2015 report by the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee (AIPAC) as a benefactor for its real estate committee,
which required a donation of at least $36,000 to the powerful
pro-Israel lobbying group.
Kushner's parents donated $20 million two years ago to a medical
school campus in Jerusalem now named after them.
Using his family and business ties, Kushner arranged a series of
meetings for Trump during a trip the candidate planned to make to
Israel last year, the sources say.
The trip never happened. Trump scrapped it after Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned his proposal to ban Muslims
from entering the United States. Trump later suggested that if
elected he would not take sides in the dispute between Israel and
the Palestinians, a stance he said would help him negotiate a peace
deal but which was unusually neutral for an American politician
looking to court voters on Israel.
Ahead of AIPAC's annual conference last month in Washington, Kushner
advised his father-in-law to lay out concrete policies that would
help smooth over relations with the Jewish community, according to
two sources. He further advised him to use a teleprompter for the
speech, ditching his usual conversational style, the people close to
Trump said.
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It was also Kushner who fielded a call from Israel's ambassador to
the United States, Ron Dermer, who wanted to offer Trump the Israeli
government's perspective ahead of the AIPAC speech, according to the
sources.
Dermer's office declined to comment.
In the end, Trump delivered an uncharacteristically detailed speech
to the 18,000 people who attended the conference, outlining a series
of policy positions broadly aligned with AIPAC's. An AIPAC spokesman
declined to comment.
Trump told attendees that Palestinians must scrub hatred of Israel
from their educational system and stop naming public places after
people who attacked Israel. He said the United States must stand
with Israel in rejecting attempts by the United Nations to impose
restrictions on Israel or parameters for a peace deal. He criticized
the U.S. deal with Iran as bad for Israel.
While helping Trump craft the speech, Kushner sought advice from the
politically connected editor of his newspaper, the New York
Observer. The editor, Ken Kurson, a former speech writer for former
New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, wrote in an email to Reuters that he
reviewed the speech before Trump delivered it.
FAMILY TIES
Trump has loomed large in Kushner's life since day one of his
marriage. The New York Post reported that invitations to Kushner's
wedding, held at a Trump golf club in New Jersey, included a flier
advertising Trump's other golf properties.
Kushner, who with his wife has taken family vacations with News Corp
<NWSA.O> owner Murdoch and his ex-wife Wendi Deng, has worked to
calm Murdoch's ire with Trump over the candidate's criticism of the
company's Fox News Channel and star anchor Megyn Kelly, two people
familiar with his activities say.
During regular phone calls and lunches Kushner tries both to soothe
Murdoch and stump for his father-in-law, these people said.
Despite his influence behind the scenes, Kushner keeps a largely low
profile on the campaign trail. During a Trump rally in South
Carolina last November, he hung back while other family members took
the stage until his father-in-law called him out.
"Where's Jared? Jared get up here," Trump shouted. Kushner, clad in
charcoal-colored pants and a black quilted down vest, shuffled up,
hands jammed in his pockets.
"Jared's a very successful developer and he just loves politics
now," Trump said, adding with a bit of gleeful teasing: "Look at
him. See the way he dresses?"
(Story corrects real estate billionaire to billionaire in 10th
paragraph characterization of Ronald Perelman).
(Reporting by Emily Flitter; Additional reporting by Olivia Oran in
New York and Emily Stephenson in Washington; Editing by Howard
Goller)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
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