While Rex Tillerson fills the official duties of America's top diplomat, Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law, has a parallel foreign policy role that was on full display during Trump's first foreign trip last week.
Why it matters: Kushner is viewed internally as the official most capable of gathering competing viewpoints and translating/presenting the policy to Trump. That's why Trump has put him in charge of issues as big as Middle East peace, and why he has served as point person on the U.S. relationship with China. But he's facing new scrutiny amid reports he tried to set up secret communications with the Russians (to discuss Syria strategy, according to the New York Times).
