Donald Trump and Jared Kushner have barely spoken since leaving the White House: report

It remains unclear whether the former president has given his son-in-law the boot from his political inner circle, or if the 40-year-old chose to take some time off himself

Jared Kushner used to be considered one of Donald Trump’s most important advisers, influencing domestic and international policy from behind-the-scenes as he quietly built his own future political career. 

But nowadays, the 40-year-old husband to Ivanka Trump barely speaks to her father, according to a new report which alleged Mr Kushner had fallen out of the former president’s inner circle following his electoral defeat last year. 

Mr Trump in part blamed Mr Kushner for his loss to President Joe Biden, CNN reported on Friday, citing anonymous sources that said the former president’s son-in-law was “checked out of politics” after leaving Washington in January. 

He did not participate in Mr Trump’s planning for the Conservative Political Action Conference last week, where the former president delivered a speech teasing a potential run in 2024 while decrying the first month of the Biden administration as “disastrous”. 

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The network said it was unclear whether Mr Kushner made the choice to remove himself from Mr Trump’s orbit, or whether the former president was the one withdrawing his son-in-law from his team of political advisers. 

Mr Kushner has since moved with Ms Trump to Miami, and plans to reside in a luxury property on a nearby island inhabited by some of the wealthiest Americans in the region. 

As CNN noted, the former White House adviser previously enjoyed a sprawling laundry list of responsibilities, from working on a mission to establish lasting peace in the Middle East, to navigating the nation through the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr Kushner also served a crucial role in Mr Trump’s re-election while simultaneously serving in the White House, an unusual position frowned upon by ethics officials. 

Speaking to TIME last year, Mr Kushner said: “Hopefully my results speak for themselves.”

“I think that I’ve accomplished a lot,” he added. “I think the President trusts me, and he knows I’ve had his back, and he knows that I’ve been able to execute for him on a lot of different objectives.”

But he received criticism from both sides of the political aisle throughout his father-in-law’s tenure in the Oval Office for his lack of political experience and concerns of nepotism. 

Still, Mr Trump and his allies heralded Mr Kushner as one of the masterminds leading their agenda on everything from immigration policy along the US-Mexico border to renegotiating the nation’s trade deals. 

CNN said on Friday that Mr Kushner expressed an interest in continuing to work on some of the issues featured in his portfolio during the Trump administration, and could one day join the former president’s campaign should he seek another bid for the White House. 

For now, however, it appeared Mr Kushner was planning an extended retreat from Washington and politics in general, according to the latest news.