there, send it to us on twitter with the #dogswatchingkasied.c. we'll be back next week from 7:00 to :00 p.m. eastern. don't miss an all-new headliners, jared kushner. for now good-bye from washington. >> jared is a great young man, he went to harvard? >> he's the quiet power behind the brass president. >> he said we're going to win this thing. >> but jared kushner has drawn criticism of his own. >> raised a whole host of questions about his business deals, his financial history and his ties. to russia. >> had i no improper contacts. >> when you have a family member that you appoint and who is expected to serve you, there's a

divided loyalty. >> kushner learned early about family loyalty. >> especially in a crisis. >> suddenly the ceo of a gigantic sprawling company with his father in a high-profile disaster. >> the young businessman made his mark in manhattan. first with a newspaper. >> jared kushner, publisher of the "new york observer". >> then a risky real estate deal. and when his high-profile marriage led to an unexpected opening in the family business -- >> i am officially running for president of the united states. >> he seized it. >> i think the president sees kushner as a more nimble political operator than he does his own sons. >> this was an opportunity of a lifetime. that anyone would kill for. >> anyone would leap at that chance.

>> there's zero chaos. we are running -- this is a fine-tuned machine. >> from their first days in the white house, the trump administration has endured one internal feud after another. with embattled senior aides struggling to stay on the president's good side. >> aides are up and down. in and out. there's a constant drama and intrigue. >> one adviser has so far survived. >> the president definitely listens to jared and soaks it in. >> i think through his marriage to ivanka he saw ultimate loyalty. >> staff section pendable. jared kushner is not. >> kushner has stayed in the west wing despite a cloud of controversy. controversy over his business holdings and potential conflicts of interest.

>> mueller special prosecutor asking if kushner business ties influenced white house policy. >> his troubles getting credentials. >> jared kushner, president trump's son-in-law and senior adviser has been stripped of his high-level security clearance. >> his interactions with russian officials. >> jared kushner tried to set up a back channel to communicate with the russians in december before the inauguration. >> through a tul jared kushner has steadfastly remained a key player. >> he's managing several of the highest-profile portfolios within the white house right now. to be able to maneuver through those, he's an extremely effective leader. >> despite being one of the most influential people in the country, kushner is virtually invisible. >> jared has been very strategic, he's never been a public persona. he doesn't speak publicly. very few people even heard his voice. ivanka loves the press. she loves her social media

profile. jared has none. >> there's a young and yang quality to their partnership. the first daughter who is comfortable in the spotlight and the boyish son-in-law quietly trying to make his mark on history. >> i think the most influential role that jared and ivanka have played through the campaign and the white house is sort of personnel decisions. >> they've vanquished the people most dedicated to getting them out. >> jared and ivanka have been advisers to the since he was a candidate. they've clashed with corey lewandoski. chris christie. steve bannon, reince priebus. and rex tillerson from the administration, all of them -- gone. >> from the beginning, kushner was determined to position

himself with trump. >> he said every big decision was going to come through him. asserting his primacy as main adviser to the president. >> the idea that a 36-year-old real estate executive who had never worked in government would hold such a role was sharply criticized. >> then president trump handed kushner a full plate of high-level assignments, stunning official washington. >> he was assigned to find peace in the middle east. to handle relations with china. with mexico. he put on a flack vest over his blue blazer and went to iraq. >> he set up the office of american innovation, he was going to solve the veterans affairs crisis. he was going to do an infrastructure plan. it became a joke that there was no problem in america that jared kushner was in the going to fix. >> many in the white house weren't laughing. in the early months of the administration, some senior aides struggled with kushner,

they weren't just fighting for power. it was also about different ideologies between jared kushner's and steve bannon's camps. >> kushner thought that bannon sort of rough-hewed populism was dangerous and bad and bannon thought kushner was a new york democrat. he referred to kushner and ivanka trump as the democrats. >> there was a battle over the soul of what this white house was going to stand for. >> that battle became more urgent after the violent protests in charlottesville in august 2017. >> when trump defended the neo-nazis. >> very fine people, on both sides. >> i think jared and ivanka felt that steve bannon was a toxic influence both on donald trump, but also on the country. >> bannon, meanwhile, blamed kushner for supporting the president's decision to fire fbi director james comey.

it was a controversial choice, but kushner's attorney confirms he supported it. >> he wasn't the one who drafted it and conceived of the concept but when he did become involved, he definitely supported it. >> the firing led to the appointment of robert mueller as special counsel. in part to investigate whether trump and his aides including jared kushner had tried to obstruct justice. >> how instrumental he was in that decision is something that investors are interested in and looking at. that is the gold standard example of how jared has terrible political judgment. >> bannon used the comey decision as part of a campaign of negative stories about kushner. according to interviews he gave in 2017. >> ultimately, that was one of the things that was bannon's downfall. you could criticize other aides, other advisers to the president. but you couldn't criticize family. >> west wing lightning rod steve bannon is out as president trump's chief strategist. >> many in the white house believe jared and ivanka had fed

stories to the media as well. >> they're widely suspected of leaking damaging information about rivals in the white house. people around them worry about whether they are doing well in the eyes of jared kushner and if they're not what that might mean for them. >> bannon was not the only one. >> after months of speculation, white house chief of staff reince priebus is officially out. >> jared and ivanka felt that reince priebus was not serving donald trump well as chief of staff. that the west wing was chaotic. >> but replacing priebus back-fired for kushner. >> one of his primary goals was to instill structure and discipline on the west wing and that meant that jared kushner and ivanka lost their walk-in privileges to the oval office. >> kushner spends less time at the president's side these days. >> increasingly jared kushner found his role shrinking in the white house. now he would tell people that was a good thing. that early days he was involved

with everything because he had to be there playing defense in a way against what he thought were bad ideas from the likes of steve bannon. >> narrowing his focus, has allowed kushner to concentrate on projects of particular interest to him. like middle east peace and prison reform. but some say the west wing battles have hardened jared kushner. >> i think he's learned that there's always a shark or a knife behind each corner. that the swamp is swamp for a reason. because there's a lot of nasty things in the water. >> it's politics, that's the sport of it and people will either agree or disagree with what you said or didn't say. but that's not what's real. what's real at the end of the day is what you accomplish, the differences you make. the lives you impact and that's what we stay very focused on. >> kushner has tried to control his narrative, speaking little in public himself and using surrogates instead. that helps his own image. but it's also in service of his father in law. >> jared would do anything that he was asked to do or felt he

needed to do. to keep donald trump president for four more years. >> coming up -- >> jared wasn't forgetting who had hurt him and that's chris christie. ev-er-y-where. about to be parents. it's doing a lot of kicking down there. meeting the parents. it's gonna be fine. and this driver, logging out to watch his kid hit one out of the... go dani, go! opportunity is everywhere. all you have to do to find it is get out... here. ♪ then you might have a dcondition called dry mouth.? biotène is clinically proven to soothe and moisturize a dry mouth. plus, it freshens breath. biotène. immediate and long lasting dry mouth symptom relief. i love you, basement guest bathroom.

your privacy makes you my number 1 place to go number 2. i love you, but sometimes you stink. febreze air effects doesn't just mask, it cleans away odors. because the things you love the most can stink. and try febreze small spaces to clean away odors for up to 30 days. breathe happy with febreze. discover.o. i like your card, but i'm absolutely not paying an annual fee. discover has no annual fees. really? yeah. we just don't believe in them. oh nice. you would not believe how long i've been rehearsing that. no annual fee on any card. only from discover.

october 24th. if r. even before his father in law's inauguration, jared kushner was heavily involved in manage hog would work for the new president. one of his first orders of business, 72 hours after the election was removing chris christie as head of trump's transition team. >> jared kushner swooped in, and moved to have him pushed aside and fired. and many people saw that as his answer in revenge for all of the feelings he had for chris christie. >> with jared kushner, the story often returns to his father. charlie kushner had a bitter history with chris christie that

jared wasn't wuilling to put aside. >> chris christie was the federal prosecutor who sent jared's father to jail. >> jared wasn't forgetting who had hurt him and that's chris christie. >> chris christie ran a real estate empire mostly what are known as garden apartments. >> took over the business from his parents and built it from a small construction company with a few apartments into a big, very profitable suburban business. >> and almost overnight, he's the garden apartment king. >> in business, charlie was known for being tough. >> he speaks softly, most of the time and i think he comes off as a pretty nice guy. but he has a reputation for being a volcanic temper. >> there are people all over new jersey who have been on the receiving end of having crossed him. >> but at home in livingston, charlie was a very different presence. he and his wife, cyril, had four children.

>> they are incredibly loving parents and grandparents. there's not a day that goes by where they're not speaking to all four of their kids. >> jared's relationship with his father with his whole family is one of the warmest and closest relationships i've ever seen. >> as the son of holocaust survivors, charlie kushner felt strongly about judaism and jared and his siblings were raised in a deeply religious home and they also learned a great deal about the state of israel. sometimes firsthand. >> benjamin netanyahu, the prime minister of israel has been a kushner family friend. he slept in jared kushner's bed on a visit to the kushner family home many years ago. >> american politicians spent time with the curb ners as well. >> charlie was a enormous contributor to the democratic party. he knew all the politicians, i can't tell you how many of his friends told mow that they met bill clinton in his office. >> charlie kushner reportedly used his influence and fortune to help his oldest son.

>> people who went to school with him did not think that jared was going to be the first person in the class to on his own get accepted into harvard so jared was lucky he had a father who was very well connected politically and had deep pockets. >> a journalist wrote that charlie kushner pledged $2.5 million to harvard the year that jared applied. even though he had no personal connection to the school. jared was accepted. charlie kushner's representatives have said he was a generous doan tore many causes. harvard does not comment on specific admissions cases. >> jared kushner began his freshman year in the fall of 1999 and he quickly started buying real estate near the campus. as he explained in this interview with cnbc. >> i found one deal that i really liked and i put together some numbers and i figured out how i can make it make sense and my father put up the half the equity and my siblings and i was able to go out and raise the

rest of the money from different investors. >> but life in the kushner family was about to change. accusations surfaced in 2003 that charlie kushner was improper using the family company's funds. >> an investigation was started by chris christie. then the u.s. attorney in new jersey. >> allegations that charlie kushner was misusing company funds. was using them for charitable donations, using them for political donations. >> and the case exposed a rift in the kushner family. two of charlie's siblings turned against him and gave evidence to chris christie's team of federal prosecutors. >> and charlie kushner lost it. he thought it was the ultimate act of betrayal. >> this triggered one of the most baroque and sensational revenge plots that i've ever heard of. >> charles kushner is accused of having a prostitute seduce a

federal witness. >> prostitute hired by mr. kushner and his co-conspirators. >> that witness was family. charlie's brother-in-law. charlie had a videotape made of the sexual encounter and sent it to his sister. she turned it over to authorities. >> so not only was charlie kushner facing possible campaign finance crimes, he was engaged in potential witness tampering. >> kushner pleaded guilty in 2004 to 18 counts of filing false tax returns and campaign finance reports, as well as retaliating against a witness. charlie kushner spent a year in federal prison in alabama, leaving jared as the new head of the family business. he was 24 years old at the time. a graduate student in a joint business and wall program at nyu. >> he suddenly was ceo of a gigantic sprawling company. >> you had to feel bad for the kid. here he is being thrust into the limelight. the family is in all the gossip

pages, tabloid front pages. >> despite the embarrassment jared stood by his father. >> he basically said that his actions, while wrong, were justified because his uncle violated the oath of loyalty to the family. >> when charlie was in jail in alabama, jared flew down there almost every weekend to see his father. >> i think he's an incredible man and we're very, very close and he's always been a great mentor and friend. >> those visits to alabama really sustained them both. >> while the crisis of his father's imprisonment presented enormous challenges for jared kushner, it also gave him enormous opportunities. >> this was really the crucible that forged jared's character, he was in his early 20s and he had to grow up and assume a level of maturity that most people don't develop until their 30s or 40s. >> before long jared kushner had a new goal. relocating the family business to new york city. coming up --

>> they both grew up under incredible scrutiny. they were lucky to find a partner who understood what that's like. winner! that's a win. but it's not the only reason i switched. hi! geico has licensed agents who i can reach 24/7. great savings and round the clock service? now that's a win-win. winner. winner. yay me! oh, hi! good luck. switch to geico®. it's a win-win.

everything was so fresh in the beginning. but that plug...quickly faded. luckily, there's new febreze plug. it cleans away odors and freshens for 1200 hours. [sniffs] ahhhh!

breathe happy with new febreze plug.

jared kushner had taken over his family's new jersey real estate company at the age of 24 after his father was sent to prison. when charlie kushner returned to the company in 2006, he supported jared's push to relocate to new york city. their first deal certainly grabbed attention. a record-breaking purchase of a skyscraper at 6 66 fifth avenue. >> it was a great location on fifth avenue. perhaps the most desirable avenue in the city. >> this was a deal that put them on the map. they bought it for the highest price ever paid for a manhattan office property at the height of the mid 2000 real estate bubble. the price they paid was $1.88 billion. >> it was a huge amount, even by new york real estate standards. but the kushners had no trouble raising the money. >> this was a time when wall street was willing to lend gobs of money.

so they borrowed almost the entire sale price. >> i think they bought it with like $50 million down. at o$1.8 billion building go whn the market crashed, the kushner's deal turned on them. >> commercial real estate, that's the next shoe to drop. >> i think it's obviously dropped. i think there's more distress to come. >> the number of tenants started to decline. and really it back-fired on him in a big way. >> over the next decade as the young mogul worked to settle the debt, he gained a different reputation than his hot-tempered father. >> jared took on a completely different persona. he's much quieter and reserved. he seems to listen. >> he tends to come across as very sort of affable. polite and there's something winning about him. >> jared kushner was ambitious

as well. as part of his move to establish himself in the city. he decided in 2006 to invest in a very different type of venture. >> i'm jared kushner, publisher of the "new york observer." >> at the time the "observer" was a very important part of the new york media landscape. >> i mr. carter has built a newspaper that has incredible reputation. >> the purchase price was $10 million. and when kushner bought the paper, it had major financial problems as well. >> it really needed an injection of money. it wasn't going to be able to keep going as it was. >> kyle pope was named the new editor in 2009 as kushner pushed to make the "observer" profitable. >> i thought that like buying a building, it was an incredible building that hadn't been properly run like a business. >> he's like i'm going to be the person that unlocks the secret of how news can become profitable. it became clear to me that he didn't have a lot of time for

journalists or what they do. or how they do it. >> according to pope, kushner had his own ideas about how to use the storied newspaper. the two clashed over a story kushner asked pope to look into. >> jared came to me during one of our weekly meetings and said we need to do a hit job on this banker. he kept asking me about it, i said look, jared, we're never going to do this story. don't say hit job. this is a libel issue. you can't say things like that in the news room. he became more openly critical of what i was doing. pope left in 2011 after 15 months, two more editors came and quickly left. >> the hit piece was not a one-time thing because the editor who came after me wrote that the same thing happened to her. >> but a family friend took over in 2013 and he says he had a very different experience working with kushner. >> jared never ordered a hit piece on anyone. not any of his real estate

rivals, not any perceived political rivals. anything else. i really believe that jared never got the credit that he deserves for being an excellent publisher. >> this guy invested. he said yes to reasonable plans. >> soon after buying the paper, the 26-year-old kushner went to a business lunch that would change his life. associates wanted him to meet another young real estate executive. ivanka trump. >> i could see right away how much chemistry there was between them. >> i thought they're probably going to get married. >> they are the most suited for one another couple. they're both ambitious in the same way. they both work in the same industry and that work is important to them. >> they both grew up under incredible scrutiny. and not all of it positive. they both have parents who occasionally attract intense negative emotions. they were lucky to find a partner who understood what that's like. >> but from the beginning there was a serious impediment to the relationship. >> jared comes from a very

observant orthodox jewish family. ivanka trump is christian and it was imparrot i have been for jared's parents, that jared marry a jewish woman. >> and it broke them up. ivanka was devastated. >> the couple eventually got back together. and ivanka converted to judaism. they wed in front of 500 guests at trump national golf club in 2009. and they assumed their place in new york society. >> but friends say their life is very much centered at home. >> one thing to know about jared is the kind of father he is, the kind of husband he is. it's ivanka trump. i imagine he has his hands full sometimes but he's got to be a great husband. >> the couple balanced raising their three children with their real estate careers and personal ventures. >> this is sample of some of our collections. >> ivanka trump marketed her own

line of clothing and accessories and kushner invested heavily in debt companies. >> he helped fund raise hundreds of thousands for start-ups and it was clear that he had a pretty incredible network. >> jared's rolo dex was massive. he knew people. and people liked him. >> meanwhile kushner companies had grown no a diverse real estate conglomerate. jared brought the company into trendy brooklyn neighborhoods and there was much more. >> they went on a buying spree. they were buying all kinds of different properties. seemed to be everywhere at once. >> but there was a threat on the horizon. that overpriced building, 666 fifth avenue and the $1.2 billion debt that was coming due. >> the building that made their entree into new york and it was a building for a while threatened the entire business. coming up -- >> he got everybody in line.

>> he wouldn't let the ship go sideways. -trash can, turn on the tv. -my pleasure. -ice dispenser, find me a dog sitter. -okay. -and make ice. -pizza delivered. -what's happened to my son? -i think that's just what people are like now. i mean, with progressive, you can quote your insurance on just about any device. even on social media. he'll be fine. -[ laughs ] -will he? -i don't know.

-will he? ♪

when i first came to ocean bay, what i saw was despair. i knew something had to be done. hurricane sandy really woke people up, to showing that we need to invest in this community. i knew having the right partner we could turn this place around. it was only one bank that could finance a project this difficult and this large, and that was citi. preserving affordable housing preserves communities. so we are doing their kitchens and their flooring and their lobbies and the grounds. and the beautification of their homes, giving them pride in where they live, will make this a thriving community once again. ♪

hi, these are your top stories. police this upstate new york are investigating the crash of a limo that left 20 people dead. the ford excursion limousine slammed into an empty suv parked outside a store. all 18 people in the limo died along with two pedestrians. brett kavanaugh will get a formal swearing-in at the white house monday night after winning senate confirmation to the supreme court on saturday. kavanaugh will get right to work this week joining the court a week into their session. for now, back to headliners, jared kushner. i am officially running for president of the united states. >> jared kushner's father in law, donald trump, was known for bold moves. but running for president

surpassed them all. and jared's life was once more going to take a startling turn. >> i will bring it back. bigger and better and stronger than ever before. >> the 34-year-old kushner soon swept up in donald trump's bare-bones campaign. >> it was such a seat of his pants operation. donald trump didn't have a lot of people on staff. jared was someone who was able to get involved. he was willing to do the legwork. >> this was an opportunity of a lifetime that anyone would kill for. especially a highly ambitious, incredibly driven person. >> kushner was a member of the northeast elite now he was traveling to working-class towns and meeting people far removed from his privileged circles. >> she's very tough by the way, i have to tell you, right, jared? and jared is a great young man,

went to harvard, very smart. >> jared would tell friends, i can't believe that exists. i didn't know the real america until i started making these stops. >> and we are going to make america great again. believe me. i promise you. >> as the trump campaign's rhetoric became more divisive, kushner's social circle back in new york pulled away from him. >> being aligned with this populist extreme rhetoric that donald trump repeated constantly as a candidate has forced both jared and ivanka to lose multiple relationships. >> even one of kushner's business relationships was affected. january 2016, jared made an investment in a high-tech start-up called good uncle. spearheaded by entrepreneur wiley serilli. >> throughout the course of this campaign it became clear that jared was involved and i became increasingly uncomfortable with his overwhelming support, and

not just support, involvement in the campaign. so i called kushner and i said our investors agree we would like to give your money back. not the typical thing a start-up does. >> serilli said kushner did not take the news well. >> jared said this was a cowardly call. he said that the election allowed him to exfoliate him to see which of his friendships would break in the wind. he said the phone call was somewhere incredibly immature and incredibly intolerable. >> i humbly and gratefully accept your nomination for the presidency of the united states. >> once donald trump has the nomination, the campaign gained access to a treasure trove of data about american voters. >> in 2014 the republican national committee had built a data set that was plug-and-play ready for the future candidate. they had built records on 280

million americans. >> wed designer and kushner set out to capitalize on the data. they would rewrite the playbook for presidential campaigning. >> jared right out of the gate understood we need to weaponize that data and put it behind trump's message. he started making phone callings to friends and people he knew from around the country that had success online. he allowed me to have a crash course in some of the best marketing techniques across the country. i was ready to soak those in and jared made that possible. >> the team carefully mapped out which message would play in which region. right down to the level of towns, neighborhoods and even city blocks. >> what they were doing was next-level stuff. the technology that brad parts and jared kushner built and ran mostly out of texas was extraordinary. >> one of the numbers i think jared should take credit for as well as a team is hillary clinton only made 66,000 ads on line we made 5.the million.

>> as a result of that and the technology the president raised more money online than any other republican has ever raised. >> but it was not enough just to promote their candidate. as in any campaign, there was a search for intelligence they could use against their opponent. that led to one of the most notorious episodes of the campaign. when word reached trump tower that the russians might have damaging information about hillary clinton donald trump junior set up a meeting. he forwarded the email chain to kushner and asked him to join. >> jared kushner was present at the june 2016 meeting. at trump tower. between don junior and a russian lawyer with ties to the kremlin. the purpose of that meeting was set up so that the russians could give dirt to don jr. about hillary clinton. >> but kushner's lawyer insists that jared was in the dark about the meeting's agenda. >> everybody needs to understand the chronology of that meeting. jared was told about a meeting that happened in trump tower

somewhere in passing with his brother-in-law. no topic was mentioned and the date and a time was set. when jared got into the room, the conversation was about russian adoption. >> kushner said he asked an assistant to contact him so he could excuse himself from the meeting. >> he was probably in the meeting for 10 or 12 minutes, what happened before he came in and what happened after he wasn't there to see. >> while there's no evidence that useful information was conveyed in the meeting, alleged connections between russians and the trump campaign are major subjects of the mueller probe. the trump teen was thrown into panic by the release of the notorious "access hollywood" tape one month before election day. >> when you're a star, can you do it, you can do anything, grab them by the [ bleep ]. >> even some republican leaders were appalled by the tape and called for trump to step down. despite his father in law's shocking words, jared kushner encouraged him to stay in the

race. >> as the tape started to spin out of control with the press, he got everybody in line. he's making phone calls, he was talking to people. and he said don't let it go sideways. he said this is what we're going to do and we're going to be fine and tomorrow we're going to keep going and win this thing. he showed his character that night. >> still, as election day approached, many of the trump campaign did not believe victory was in the cards. even kushner was skeptical. >> there was a whole plan in place for all of them for what would happen after the election. jared was very well aware of the reputational reboot, close friends of his said look everyone here thinks you're a jerk, you're going to have a lot of work to do in order to rebuild your reputation and woe just look at them and say i know, i know. so when the votes were cast that day, and things started looking good for him, he was calling around people saying, i think this might actually happen.

it was not something they were planning for, they were planning for the opposite. >> america will no longer settle for anything less than the best. coming up, he's going to war with jeff sessions and the rest of the justice department. do these moves look familiar? then you might have a condition called dry mouth. biotène is clinically proven to soothe and moisturize a dry mouth. plus, it freshens breath. biotène. immediate and long lasting dry mouth symptom relief.

get stronger... get closer. start listening today to the world's largest selection of audiobooks on audible. and now, get more. for just $14.95 a month, you'll get a credit a month good for any audiobook, plus two audible originals exclusive titles you can't find anywhere else. if you don't like a book, you can exchange it any time, no questions asked. automatically roll your credits over to the next month if you don't use them. with the free audible app, you can listen anytime, and anywhere. plus for the first time ever, you'll get access to exclusive fitness programs a $95 value free with membership. start a 30-day trial today and your first audiobook is free. cancel anytime and your books are yours to keep forever. audible. the most inspiring minds. the most compelling stories. text "listen27" to 500500 to start your free trial today.

i, donald john trump, to solemnly swear. >> it was one of the most surprising political victories in american history. >> congratulations, mr. president. >> and many observers gave jared kushner credit as a key strategist. it was clear that donald trump recognized how much he owed his victory to the work of his son-in-law. >> i think that he got to see kushner up close during the 2016 campaign. he decided that kushner had what it took to be you know, an important adviser. >> we're going to work as hard as we can to make as much impact

we can on the areas we care about and that's really how we judge ourselves. >> but even as kushner began his new role in the white house. law enforcement officials were raising questions about his activities during the transition period. >> during the presidential transition jared kushner met with a very high-ranking russian banker who has ties to the kremlin. >> was it appropriate for to you meet with the russian officials? >> and it was not just the banker. in december 20 16 kushner, along with trump adviser michael flynn, met secretly with russian ambassador sergey kislyak inside trump tower. under discussion was a plan to set up a back-door communication channel between the trump team and moscow. that would go through the russian embassy. >> if you look at this pattern, a meeting with the kremlin-aligned lawyer. a meeting with kremlin-aligned banker and an offer to use russian communications equipment, to talk to moscow, that raises a lot of questions about really why jared seemed to be so solicitous of russians.

>> kushner would later testify about these meetings in closed-door sessions in the house. the city for robert mueller. he also gave a rare public statement. >>dy not collude with russia, nor do i know of anyone else in the campaign who did so. i had no improper contacts and i have been fully transparent in providing all requested information. >> jared, how did you not know about the donald trump jr. meeting when the subject line said clinton/russia confidential? >> jared probably had, i don't know, 40 or 50 contacts during the transition period with countries all over the world and his approach was always the same. this is a new administration, we're going to start over and look to see how our relations go. >> despite the investigation, kushner developed a reputation in washington as a way into the trump white house. >> i think he's a go-to person for a lot of people. people know that he communicate

directly with the president and the president takes his advice. >> but over time, kushner's primary responsibilities were quietly cut back to the middle east. prison reform and trade negotiations with mexico and canada. >> i think that jared kushner discovered that the white house is more complicated than he had expected. so he began to increasingly focus his energies on discreet priorities, things that he thought he could make a difference on. >> a big priority was criminal justice reform. something on jared's mind since the days of visiting his father in an alabama prison. >> this initiative i have personal experience with. i spent some time thinking about from the, from the white house what can be done. >> what he realized is that there's a lot of changes that can be made and that he is in a position along with great people on the outside, both from the left and the right. >> one of those outside people was mark holden, who heads a prison reform group affiliated

with koch industry, they helped craft a bill called the first step act, passed overwhelmingly in the house of representatives in may 2018. >> the first step act is designed to help rehabilitate people who are incarcerated. so when they come out, they can get jobs. they can get an education. they don't go back to prison. >> as the bill moves to the senate, kushner finds himself at odds with others in the trump administration. >> he's going to war with jeff sessions and the rest of the justice department on this. the conservative leadership of the justice department is trying to go the other direction, he's trying to toughen sentences and make things harsher again. so this is a struggle for kushner. >> for those alarmed by the rise of trump, there was hope in jared and ivanka would be a moderating counterforce to the extremism of the new administration, especially on issues of immigration and race. but that hasn't happened. >> what jared and ivanka have been extremely successful at

doing is convincing people is that they are influential and then that they have no influence. >> they had to overlook some of the boss's more questionable behaviors. >> one of the things that i think is astonishing about jared and ivanka is the tunnel vision that not wanting to address the the elephant in the room. and the elephant being president trump and his conduct. >> jared and ivanka knew better than anybody that there was no moderating their father. >> even as he's established a new role as public servant, kushner has defied years of white house tradition by retaining a share in his family's businesses, as well as his own ventures, although he no longer directs the investments himself. >> he could sold them off, holding on to nothing, did he not want to do that he chose to hold on by a calculation by the "post" last year of about 90% of certain holdings. >> if you retain your private interest, your outside business interests, you remain susceptible to corrupt and undue

influence, particularly when you have these types of assets. and the lack of transparency with respect to them. kushnerner's attorney has said that jared had stayed well within the ethical guidelines. >> he is acutely aware of when any holding might or or might n port foe owe in government service and staying clear to have it. if we're to the point where we're going to demand people who come into government and blind trust. we'll lose a lot of talent. >> one could make the argument don't you want great talented people to work in the government? sure. but only if they're truly conflict free. >> in a sign of just how much they still had invested, jared and invan ka reported making $82 million during the first year in the white house. >> he has holdings. when those appreciate and somebody in the world of his investments sell that asset, if

it's sold at profit he is going to quote make money. while he's in government. end quote. >> for kushner companies having a family member in the white house has been a mixed blessing. as hay search for financial rescue from the looming debt on 666 fifth avenue. potential deals fell threw. reportedly due to concerns about possible conflicts of interest. >> jared entry to the white house was a moment of pride for charlie. at the same time it's been a problem for the kushner companies. a great deal of scrutiny over a conflict of interest. >> that maybe impeding them now. from getting business. through there is life after the white house. and in in the know predict this will be a big boom to business. >> in august of 2018, there was bittersweet news for kushner companies. asset management firm agreed to lease 666 fifth avenue for 99 years. it was a much needed bail out for the kushners.

at the same time. an emotional loss. they were losing control over one of new york's signature properties. >> coming up. >> he's already made up his mind and they refused to meet with him. here we go. discover. i like your card, but i'm absolutely not paying

an annual fee. discover has no annual fees. really? yeah. we just don't believe in them. oh nice. you would not believe how long i've been rehearsing that. no annual fee on any card. only from discover.

i'm ready to crush ap english. i'm ready to do what no one on my block has done before. forget that. what no one in the world has done before. all i need access, tools, connections. high-speed connections. is the world ready for me? through internet essentials, comcast has connected more than six-million low-income people

to low-cost, high-speed internet at home. i'm trying to do some homework here. so they're ready for anything. as the white house affairs. jared kushner worked for mornts to bring about the sell brace in may 2018. in december of last year, president trump announced to the world that the united states would finally recognize the truth. that jerusalem is the capitol of israel. he also declared that we would soon move the embassy to jerusalem and just five months later, we are standing on the grounds. >> it was very exciting. one of the most exciting days i have ever had.

and one of the most meaningle. jared was critical to that. >> jared and his family had a relationship with him for years. so, the fact that the embassy got moved from jared's perspective is a massive win. >> not everyone in the region was celebrating. >> the deadly clashes of the border between israel and ga sa. dozens of palestinians killed. thousands more wounded. >> the palestinians claimed jerusalem at the capitol. and kushner the designated mideast peace negotiator hadn't consulted them about the embassy move. the u.s. was taking sides in the dispute over the city. 128 countries and the united nations join the palestinians in opposing the u.s. action. >> even ambassador ross a supporter of the move was dismayed. >> there was a need for the arab leaders to play a role in the

process. i didn't have a problem with the decision under the administration. i had a problem with the way it was done. >> the episode raised doubts about kushner's impartiality. >> when he went to the region to do negotiations and discussions on the peace plan. they say he made up his mand and refused to meet with him. >> since then the trump administration cut off aid to palestinian groups and shut down the offices in washington. he told the "new york times" these actions will give his negotiating team quote a much higher chance of actually achieving a real peace. kushner has had more success with an international mission much closer to home. repairing relations with mexico. which had been damaged during the election. >> yes, we will build a great great wall. >> he listened. which is not what we were expecting from the trump

somebody close as jared. is to president trump. >> a meeting kushner arranged between president trump. and mexican president. broke down when trump demanded his proposed border wall be on the agenda. >> jared took over. and he talked to the president. he talked to me. quietly. but very effectively. he brought back the interabs and he has been instrumental in driving the relationship since then. >> october 2018. trump announced a new provisional trade agreement with mexico and canada. agreement kushner played a key role in the negotiating. >> this is a terrific deal. for all of us. >> we wouldn't be here today if it weren't for several people. who contributed so much to this endeavor. first, the president key advise ir and my good friend jared kushner was my partner in leading the u.s. negotiationing team. >> even as he negotiated over some of the worlds most volatile

borders, kushner didn't have permanent security clearance. >> was the fact he couldn't get a permanent security clearance for a while related to his contacts with the russians in 2016? and during the transition was there something mueller knew that was preventing him for a clearance. >> 16 months later he received perm nerpt clearance. the reasons why it took so long are unknown. throughout all the controversy, jared kushner continues to remain at the center of national power. and close to the president. >> my wife and i feel like we maid a difference so far. there's nor impact we have the ability to make. >> kushner has already survived. and even thrived through some of the most tumultuous times in history. and the storm is not over. >> the mueller investigation for jared is huge. and there's just no way around the risk that it poses to him.

particularly given his experience watching his father. go to prison. i think even the potential of some legal peril looms large. >> as events unfold in washington it's likely jared kushner's profound sense of loyalty will continue to be test tested. it's a very complicated story. and why am i in the middle of it? >> the infamous trump tower meeting, it's consumed washington for more than a year. now, the man who holds the key to how it all happened, shares new details. >> it was a dirty offer that they accepted? >> yes. that is true. >> is the meeting the special counsel's best evidence of possible collusion between the campaign and russia? we go inside the room with a first-hand account. >> suddenly what should have been two people and don jr. was