Trump has come under a furious backlash from political opponents and ethics experts for concentrating power in the hands of relatives and for refusing to divest fully from his multibillion-dollar international conglomerate The Trump Organisation.

Kushner, 36, is one of the president’s most trusted aides with a wide-ranging brief covering domestic and foreign policy. He is currently visiting Iraq with General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Like his father-in-law he has no previous experience in government but has swapped New York real estate and magazine publishing businesses for a stratospheric rise into one of the most powerful players in Washington.

His position has come under greater scrutiny since documents disclosed that he and his wife Ivanka have held onto investments worth up to US$740 million, inflaming fears about possible conflicts of interest.

Donald Trump in January handed control of The Trump Organisation to his adult sons, but flouted recommendations that he sell off all his assets in a blind trust to avoid any possible suspicion of corruption.

Eric Trump told Forbes that his father would not have entrusted him and his 39-year-old brother unless they were up to the job.

“Certainly eight years ago, he couldn’t have. I think we probably would have been too big of question marks for him,” he told the magazine.

“I think hopefully we earned our stripes.”