Who is in Donald Trump’s family circle? – NBC New York

When Donald Trump returns to the White House on Monday, his family circle will look a little different than it did when he first arrived eight years ago.

His youngest son, Barron, was in fifth grade at the time. He is now a freshman, towering over his 6-foot father. Grandson Kai, who turned 9 in 2017, is now an aspiring social media influencer and impressive golfer. Grandson Joseph, who posed on Trump’s lap with a Lego model of the White House last time, is now 11 years old.

The most prominent relatives in Trump’s political sphere, daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared, are in Florida this time after working in his first administration.

Family members can provide presidents with a ready source of moral and sounding board support, companionship, and even relief from the world’s problems. Not to mention creating headaches for the president at times as well.

“Family can do things that other people can’t, and you can trust them in a way that other people can’t,” said Tevi Troy, a former official in the George W. Bush administration and author of several books on the presidency. “Everyone needs someone to talk to late at night when you’re letting your hair down, so to speak.”

The president-elect has five children — three of whom are married — from his marriages to Ivana Trump, Marla Maples and current wife Melania Trump. He has 10 grandchildren, with an 11th on the way.

A look at Trump’s family circle:

Melania Trump

She avoided active campaigning during Trump’s 2024 appearance, limiting her public appearances to key moments such as the campaign launch, the Republican National Convention and Election Night. She published a self-titled memoir late last year and will be the subject of a documentary distributed by Amazon Prime Video, which is expected to be released later this year. While some doubt that Trump’s 54-year-old wife will spend much time in the White House, she said on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” that she has already packed and selected the furniture she will bring to the executive mansion .

Donald Trump Jr.

Donald Trump Jr. is 46 years old.

Trump Jr.’s influence has grown to the point that he lobbied his father to select close friend JD Vance as vice president. He also pushed for former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the president-elect’s picks for director of national intelligence and health and human services, respectively. Trump Jr. helps run the family’s real estate business and is the honorary chairman of Trump’s transition. He has a podcast and has said his role is to prevent “bad actors” from entering the administration. He recently flew his father’s airplane to Greenland; the newly elected president has expressed a desire to take control of the mineral-rich Danish area.

Trump Jr. has five children — or “Smurfs,” as he sometimes refers to them — with his ex-wife, Vanessa Trump. They are Kai Madison, 17; Anders John III, 15 years; Tristan Milos, 13; Spencer Frederick, 12; and Chloe Sophia Trump, 10.

Ivanka Trump

Ivanka Trump is now 43 years old.

As Trump prepared for the 2024 race, Ivanka announced that she loved and supported him but was getting out of politics to focus on her husband and their three children. However, she joined her father and other family members on election night and when he rang the bell at the New York Stock Exchange in early December after Time magazine named him Person of the Year. She told “The Skinny Confidential” podcast that this time she just wanted to “show up to him like a daughter” and be there to watch a movie or a sports game.

Ivanka and her husband have three children: Arabella Rose, 13; Joseph Frederick, 11; and Theodore James Kushner, 8.

Eric Trump

Eric Trump is now 41 years old.

Eric is also an honorary chairman of the transition and a close advisor to his father. But he continues to focus more on running the family business. In September, he and his brother started a crypto platform called World Liberty Financial, and their father helped launch it in an interview on the X social media platform.”

Eric and his wife, Lara, have two children: Eric Luke, 7, and Carolina Dorothy Trump, 5.

Tiffany Trump

Tiffany Trump is now 31 years old.

She was more present in the 2024 campaign but still largely avoids the limelight. Tiffany, 31, and her husband, Michael Boulos, are expecting their first child this year. Boulos is a businessman who traveled with Trump in the latter part of the campaign. His father is Massad Boulos, a Lebanese American businessman who helped Trump with the influential Arab American community in the swing state of Michigan. Trump has appointed Massad Boulos to be a senior adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs.

Barron Trump

How old is Barron Trump now?

The president’s youngest son, Barron Trump, is now 18 years old and a recent graduate of New York University.

Barron, 18, is a freshman majoring in New York University business. His parents and Trump campaign officials credit him with recommending podcasts popular with young men that the president-elect appeared on during the campaign. Barron wants a bedroom in the White House, Melania Trump said on “Fox & Friends.”

Donald Trump said Barron had helped introduce him to people he had never heard of before.

“He was very good,” the president-elect told NBC News in a phone interview Saturday. “It’s the new wave. And he was very helpful.”

His mother had told “Fox & Friends” last year that “I’m very proud of him, of his knowledge, even of politics and giving advice to his father. He brought in so many young people. He knows his generation. “

Lara Trump

Trump’s daughter-in-law, 42, campaigned for him during all of his runs. After Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020, she considered running for a US Senate seat from her home state of North Carolina, but ultimately decided against it. She became a Fox News commentator.

When Trump revived his 2024 campaign, he installed his daughter-in-law as co-chair of the Republican National Committee, where she was a TV-ready advocate overseeing fundraising, voter outreach and the party’s “election integrity” initiative. She resigned from the RNC after the election, removing her name from consideration as a possible successor to Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Trump’s pick for secretary of state.

Lara Trump is passionate about fitness and has her own line of activewear. She has also explored a side project as a singer and has released some songs. The daughter Carolina is named after her home state.

Jared Kushner

Kushner, 44, has stepped out of the political spotlight – but his father could soon step in. Trump announced after the election that he intends to nominate Charles Kushner, a real estate developer, as US ambassador to France. The elder Kushner was pardoned by Trump in December 2020 after pleading guilty to tax evasion and illegal campaign contributions years earlier.

Kai Trump

Donald Trump’s 17-year-old grandson is a hopeful social media influencer. Her behind-the-scenes video from election night got 3.7 million views on YouTube. Other posts related to her grandfather have been viewed millions of times on TikTok. Kai gave his first public speech at the Republican convention and is an avid golfer who sometimes plays with his grandfather.

“If I’m not on his team, he’ll try to get into my head, and he’s always surprised that I don’t let him get to me,” she said at the rally. “But I have to remind him. , I’m a Trump too.”

Arabella Kushner

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner’s daughter was 6 years old when her grandfather showed China’s Xi Jinping a video of her in traditional Chinese dress belting out Chinese-language songs.

“It’s very good, isn’t it? She’s very smart,” Trump said. Xi replied that Arabella was her grandfather’s “little angel” and a “messenger of China-US relations.”

NOW: Arabella is 13 and enjoys singing, playing the piano, horseback riding and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, according to a social media post from her mother.