Who is Ivanka Trump’s husband Jared Kushner and is he really the ‘second most powerful man’ in America?

From his humble immigrant family origins to his marriage to Ivanka Trump, Kushner’s meteoric journey has resulted in both awe and disbelief. Here are six things you might not have known about The Don’s son-in-law …

His family history

Jared’s grandmother, Rae, was a teenager when Nazis stormed her town in Belarus – then northern Poland. She watched her own mother be executed and joined a handful of other Holocaust survivors in digging an underground passage into a forest to escape from the ghetto that the Jewish population had been forced into. Her determination has become one of the founding blocks of the Kushner family. Jared was particularly close to his gran and continues to draw inspiration from her life story.

The Kushners eventually relocated to New Jersey, forming a group called the Refugee Builders with other survivors and building suburban flats in the area. The family ended up owning around 30,000 flat units.

His father’s scandal

As the Kushner family grew in prominence, Jared’s father, Charles, pleaded guilty to 18 counts of tax evasion, witness tampering and making illegal political campaign donations back in 2005. He also confessed to hiring a prostitute to seduce his brother-in-law, sending a recording of the incident to his sister. He served 14 months of jail time.

His Ivy League education controversy

Although Jared attended Harvard, majoring in government, his acceptance to the school was marred by dubious claims. It has been alleged that his dad Charles made a donation of US$2.5 million right before he was accepted, leading many to believe that the Kushners were part of the elite who bought their children’s acceptance into top schools. The family has vehemently denied the claims, insisting that they donated to several top universities, not just Harvard.