Washington (CNN) When Donald Trump stepped into the White House in 2017, the President gave his son-in-law-turned-senior-aide Jared Kushner considerable power in trying to strike a deal for Middle East peace. Enter Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmans, another anointed son looking to make a name for himself after his father gave him considerable power.

The two have fostered a close relationship for months, White House officials tell CNN, but, to date, it is Prince bin Salman -- known more informally as MBS -- who has taken his charge and looked to remake the country he will likely someday lead. Kushner, on the other hand, has been ensnared in considerable drama inside the White House and lost some of his standing because of an inability to secure a permanent security clearance.

Even still, Kushner is expected to play a key role when MBS, a leader the United States has tried to woo for much of Trump's first 14 months in office, came to the White House on Tuesday for a meeting with the President.

"We really have a great friendship, a great relationship," Trump said sitting next to the budding Saudi leader. "I would really have to say the relationship was, to put it mildly, very, very strained during the Obama administration. And the relationship now is probably as good as it really has ever been."

Kushner has worked for months to build a close relationship with MBS . A source close to Kushner tells CNN the relationship between the two is far more personal and close than most ties between a foreign leader and a White House aide. The son-in-law-turned-aide, the source said, hopes to use that personal relationship with the crown prince to deepen the ties between the United States and Saudi Arabia.

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