it was the low point for a campaign that had been in steady decline for weeks. less than 24 hours earlier, an 11-year-old recording of donald j. trump boasting about forcing himself on women had surfaced and gone viral. now, on a saturday morning in october, his closest advisers had assembled in his trump tower apartment to discuss what to do. the group included a handful of seasoned politicians and mr. trump<u+2019>s son-in-law, jared kushner, an orthodox jew who ordinarily observes the sabbath strictly. while the others <u+2014> gov. chris christie, rudolph w. giuliani, reince priebus <u+2014> emphasized the gravity of the situation, urging mr. trump to express contrition, mr. kushner reminded him of what he had built. amid the discussions, the republican candidate briefly went down to greet 100 or so supporters gathered in front of the building. <u+201c>there<u+2019>s 2,500 people down there,<u+201d> mr. trump told his advisers when he returned. <u+201c>those are the people who are going to elect you president,<u+201d> mr. kushner replied, opting not to correct the candidate<u+2019>s crowd estimate. <u+201c>don<u+2019>t worry about the other people.<u+201d> in the chaos that often seems to surround mr. trump <u+2014> the churn of advisers, the twitter wars with reporters, the daily uncertainty over who is making decisions <u+2014> mr. kushner has emerged as the closest thing to a steadying influence, injecting optimism, playing down controversies and reinforcing mr. trump<u+2019>s perceptions, worldview and instincts. in an ever-shifting organization chart of friends and advisers, mr. kushner, 35, has been the lone constant. raised by one family that prizes loyalty above all else, he married into another. and he is well acquainted with mr. trump<u+2019>s personality type, with his own father a volatile real estate magnate. now, there is talk of his following mr. trump into the white house. what some may see as mr. kushner<u+2019>s greatest liabilities as an adviser <u+2014> his lack of political experience, policy expertise or familiarity with the ways of washington <u+2014> the president-elect views as his greatest strength: a single-minded devotion without a competing agenda. <u+201c>everyone else has their own constituencies, but jared is just there to protect the interests of the president,<u+201d> said thomas barrack jr., a longtime friend of mr. trump<u+2019>s who is heading up the inaugural committee. it is not clear exactly how mr. kushner, who is married to mr. trump<u+2019>s elder daughter, ivanka, might be deployed. he is exploring the prospects of joining the administration as a formal, but unpaid, adviser. anti-nepotism statutes prohibit close relatives of the president from playing an active role in the government, but at the same time, the constitution gives the president broad authority to choose his own advisers. if the trump administration presses ahead with a kushner appointment, the matter could wind up in court. whatever role mr. kushner may play in the administration, he has already had a hand in helping assemble it. both of mr. trump<u+2019>s most senior advisers, mr. priebus, his new chief of staff, and stephen k. bannon, his chief strategist, seek mr. kushner<u+2019>s advice routinely, considering his buy-in almost a prerequisite for their proposals to mr. trump, two senior trump officials said. (in deference to mr. kushner, the transition team delayed announcing the two men<u+2019>s appointment until after the jewish sabbath last weekend.) <u+201c>jared has the trust, confidence and ear of the entire inner circle of the trump administration, including the most important member of that group, the president-elect,<u+201d> said matthew brooks, the executive director of the republican jewish coalition. he described mr. kushner as <u+201c>one of the most important players right now beyond the president- and vice president-elect.<u+201d> inside the trump operation, he is known as the staunchest defender of mr. trump<u+2019>s judgment. when mr. bannon was recently accused of anti-semitism and of promoting white supremacist views and conspiracy theories, mr. kushner reassured the trump team. he called mr. bannon a man of character and said the widespread criticism was a smear, according to a senior republican official, speaking about private discussions on the condition of anonymity. while mr. kushner kept himself out of the spotlight throughout the campaign, he has been more visible since the election, walking the white house grounds during mr. trump<u+2019>s recent meeting with president obama and accompanying the president-elect at a meeting at trump tower on thursday night with the japanese prime minister, shinzo abe. mr. kushner declined to be interviewed for this article. although he is a newspaper owner and publisher, he has not been quoted in the media since the start of the campaign. before that, mr. kushner did not have much of a public political identity, but appeared to lean left. he was raised in a democratic household, and several years ago, he and his wife hosted a fund-raiser in their park avenue penthouse for cory booker, the democratic senator from new jersey and former newark mayor, who has become a vocal critic of mr. trump. they also once hosted a fund-raising breakfast for another democrat, eric t. schneiderman, the attorney general of new york, who sued trump university for allegedly defrauding students. (the lawsuit was one of a series brought against the program that were settled on friday for $25 million .) the couple moves in a predominantly liberal manhattan circle. <u+201c>their social politics seem more what i would expect from new yorkers of their generation,<u+201d> said adam silver, the national basketball association commissioner and a friend of mr. kushner<u+2019>s who has frequently contributed to democrats. some new york business leaders, who had recoiled at mr. trump<u+2019>s candidacy, say privately that they are hoping mr. kushner will be a moderating influence on the new president. but it remains to be seen how receptive he will be to their concerns. trump officials say that mr. kushner underwent an ideological conversion over the course of the campaign, and that he was particularly affected by the experience of wading into the crowds at trump rallies. mr. kushner projects a very different image from his father and father-in-law. he speaks in a near-whisper, punctuated by long pauses, conveying both intimacy and awkwardness. unlike most of mr. trump<u+2019>s advisers, mr. kushner is unfazed by mr. trump<u+2019>s frequent fits of anger, sitting silently rather than flinching or fighting back when he is being dressed down, several campaign officials have said. the relationship between the two men is relatively uncomplicated. unlike mr. trump<u+2019>s two eldest sons, mr. kushner did not have to live through his father-in-law<u+2019>s public and messy divorces, and the businesses that he presides over are his own, not part of the trump organization. mr. trump has described him as a <u+201c>brilliant young man.<u+201d> his quiet manner belies a driving confidence; his family<u+2019>s wealth has allowed him to plunge into new ventures, sometimes stumbling in the process. in his mid-20s, he took charge of his father<u+2019>s real estate empire and bought the new york observer. much as he once courted the media mogul rupert murdoch as a mentor, now that he is immersing himself in politics, he has been seeking the counsel of henry kissinger. at the start of the campaign, mr. kushner was mostly just along for the ride, keeping his father-in-law company at the occasional rally and making the odd phone call to a potential donor on his behalf. his purview was never entirely spelled out, which gave him latitude to exert influence without clear responsibility. he gradually built influence , and by the end of the race, he was seen internally as the de facto campaign manager. he oversaw the creation of the campaign<u+2019>s $90 million digital operation, including a database of millions of trump supporters, which was developed by a texas business that had previously worked on the trump organization website. he also brokered important meetings for mr. trump, including his sit-down with prime minister benjamin netanyahu of israel, which mr. kushner arranged with ron dermer, israel<u+2019>s ambassador to the united states. <u+201c>he<u+2019>s a cool customer,<u+201d> mr. dermer said of mr. kushner. mr. kushner<u+2019>s political inexperience was at times evident during the campaign. he told one aide that he did not need to pay for traditional focus groups because he could measure voter reaction from the applause at mr. trump<u+2019>s events. like his father-in-law, he ran hot and cold on senior campaign advisers, and played a role in ousting two of them, corey lewandowski and paul manafort, after their conduct or affiliations made them liabilities. more recently, mr. kushner backed away from a member of the transition team he had previously supported, when the man<u+2019>s work as a lobbyist for foreign governments attracted headlines. though he is not particularly bookish, mr. kushner is an admirer of <u+201c>the count of monte cristo,<u+201d> the story of an innocent man seeking vengeance against people who have wronged him. it is a story that feels particularly resonant now: in recent weeks, mr. kushner has been able to exact a measure of revenge against his own family<u+2019>s nemesis, governor christie. during the campaign, mr. kushner opposed mr. christie<u+2019>s appointment to oversee the transition team, but mr. trump overruled him, aides have said. this past week, however, mr. kushner helped push mr. christie out. their history dates to 2005, when mr. christie, then the united states attorney for new jersey, sent mr. kushner<u+2019>s father, charles, to federal prison for tax evasion, witness tampering and illegal campaign donations. the case involved a tawdry family feud: at one point, charles kushner sought to blackmail his brother-in-law, who was cooperating with the federal authorities, by hiring a woman to seduce him and videotape the encounter. <u+201c>this had nothing to do with personalities or individual relationships,<u+201d> jason miller, mr. trump<u+2019>s spokesman, said of mr. christie<u+2019>s departure. <u+201c>this was purely about putting in the best leadership and the most-qualified individuals to form the government that the president-elect wants in place when he<u+2019>s sworn in on jan. 20.<u+201d> other trump officials were critical of mr. christie<u+2019>s performance as transition chief, and said his role had become untenable after the so-called bridgegate scandal resulted in the convictions of two former christie aides days before the election. mr. kushner<u+2019>s work on the campaign took place behind the scenes, with the notable exception of an op-ed article in support of mr. trump in july in the observer. at the time, mr. trump was under fire for a twitter post that included an image of hillary clinton with a shape resembling a star of david next to a pile of cash, the latest in a list of actions by the campaign that struck many as insensitive to jewish concerns. in defending mr. trump, mr. kushner told the story of his grandmother<u+2019>s narrow escape from the nazis in the soviet union during world war ii . the article provoked an angry response on facebook from two estranged cousins, one of whom accused mr. kushner of exploiting their family<u+2019>s history for political purposes. like mr. trump<u+2019>s children, mr. kushner was raised in a privileged environment. he went to a private jewish school in livingston, n.j., and attended harvard after his parents pledged a $2.5 million gift to the university. later, he got a joint m.b.a. and law degree from new york university. his wife described him as a <u+201c>great new jersey boy,<u+201d> in a vogue magazine interview last year. when the couple were married at a trump golf course in 2009, guests were given white flip-flops with the words <u+201c>jared<u+201d> and <u+201c>ivanka<u+201d> on the insoles and a tag reading, <u+201c>a great pair.<u+201d> mr. kushner had no journalism experience when he purchased the observer for $10 million in 2006, installing a chess board in his office that former staff members don<u+2019>t recall ever being used. he found himself presiding over a newspaper of reporters and editors more or less his age, and he responded with solicitousness. <u+201c><u+2018>this is so great i<u+2019>m getting to hang around with journalists, and they are really smart,<u+201d> nancy butkus, the paper<u+2019>s former artistic director, recalled mr. kushner saying in a cab packed with observer employees. as he sought to put his imprint on the paper, his relationship with its veteran editor, peter kaplan, quickly soured. <u+201c>this guy doesn<u+2019>t know what he doesn<u+2019>t know,<u+201d> mr. kaplan complained to colleagues at the time. sustaining declines in print advertising like others in the newspaper industry, the observer announced this month that it would become a digital-only publication . mr. kushner became the public face of his family<u+2019>s real estate business, kushner companies, when his father was sent to prison. in an effort to rehabilitate the family name, the younger mr. kushner oversaw a series of transactions geared toward moving holdings out of new jersey and into new york. the centerpiece was the purchase of a midtown manhattan skyscraper for $1.8 billion. it was then as record price for a new york office building; as it turned out, the timing could not have been worse. a couple of years later, in the face of recession, the kushners were forced to sell a stake in the building to cover a secondary loan on the property. since then, the real estate market has rebounded; the kushners have acquired $7 billion worth of commercial and residential property over the last decade, according to real estate executives who have been briefed by the kushners but were not authorized to discuss the matters. charles kushner remains an active presence in the business. the company named a new president over the summer as his son, the c.e.o., became increasingly involved in the trump campaign. jared kushner has found a new passion, and his father-in-law is counting on him. jason horowitz and charles v. bagli contributed reporting. a version of this article appears in print on november 20, 2016, on page a1 of the new york edition with the headline: in-law with outsize power: kushner is a steadying hand. order reprints | today's paper | subscribe
the in-law in the trump inner circle: jared kushner<u+2019>s steadying hand
jonathan mahler maggie haberman