Newspaper owned by Jared Kushner will not endorse Trump

New York Observer, bought by GOP nominee’s son-in-law in 2006, not backing any candidate

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump will not get the endorsement of The New York Observer, a weekly newspaper and website owned by his Jewish son-in-law Jared Kushner, which has decided to abstain from endorsing any candidate in this election cycle for the nation’s highest office.

The publication’s editor-in-chief, Ken Kurson, told The Huffington Post on Wednesday that the paper — only one of a handful that backed Trump during the Republican primary — is “not going to make an endorsement in the general.”

Few major newspaper editorial boards have been willing to support the GOP nominee in the main contest. Perhaps the largest publication to do so was The Las Vegas Review-Journal, which is owned casino magnate Sheldon Adelson.

A number of traditionally conservative publications — The Arizona Republic, The Cincinnati Enquirer, The Dallas Morning News — have endorsed Clinton.

The 35-year-old Kushner, the scion of a large New York-area developer, bought the New York Observer for roughly $10 million in 2006.

Jared Kushner, left, and Ivanka Trump arrive at The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Benefit Gala, in New York, May 2, 2016. (AP/Evan Agostini/Invision)

He’s been a close adviser to Trump on a myriad of campaign matters, including the selection of a running mate, for which the The New York Times has described him as Trump’s “de facto campaign manager.” He also reportedly drafted Trump’s speech at this year’s AIPAC Policy Conference.

Kushner and Ivanka Trump, who observe Shabbat and keep kosher, currently live on Park Avenue with their three children, the youngest of whom was born in March.

After Trump created controversy during the campaign for tweeting a picture of his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton with a six-pointed star superimposed with money and a caption that read “Most corrupt candidate ever!” Kushner sprang to his defense.

“My father-in-law is not an anti-Semite,” he said in an op-ed published in his newspaper. “The fact is that my father-in-law is an incredibly loving and tolerant person who has embraced my family and our Judaism since I began dating my wife. His support has been unwavering and from the heart.”