President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner had to resign from 266 business positions before joining the West Wing, White House officials revealed on Friday ahead of the release of several financial disclosure reports belonging to senior aides.
Kusher gave up his ownership stake in the New York Observer prior to taking a role in the White House and relinquished control of his family’s real estate company.
“Obviously Kushner had a number of different assets with a number of different companies,” a White House official told reporters.
The official also cited former Goldman Sachs president Gary Cohn, now the director of the National Economic Council, as another example of a White House employee whose financial disclosure filing is likely to be “complex.”
“These are incredibly successful individuals with very complex asset structures,” said a second White House official, who noted that the Office of the White House Counsel has had a “sit-down meeting with every civilian White House employee making over $161,000 [a year] to discuss their filings” and advise them on how to divest to avoid potential conflicts of interest.
“Every single officer in this White House will have an ethics agreement so that it’s very clear what they need to do going forward to be in compliance with ethics laws and the pledge,” the official said.
The White House vowed in a statement on March 22 to release the filings of senior aides and advisers who have submitted forms detailing their finances. Officials noted on Friday that the Obama administration did the same on April 3, 2009 –— just over two months after Barack Obama took office.
“From the time the person files, White House counsel has 60 days to review [the forms] before the public can request them,” a White House official said.
The forms provide insight into the previous salaries, assets and holdings White House officials earned or maintained prior to joining the Trump admininstration. Several of the officials have since sold off the assets or holdings that will appear on their forms.
The official said financial disclosures belonging to President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence would be excluded from the batch and likely released in May.
This story has been updated.
