Jared Kushner’s dizzying rise to political power doesn’t appear to have helped the family real-estate empire he left behind. Kushner Cos., which is running out of time to pay off its half of a $1.2 billion mortgage on 666 Fifth Avenue, has struggled to find financing since Donald Trump won the election, an unexpected event that spooked potential foreign investors. Allegations that people connected to Kushner Cos. used Jared’s name in promotional materials has prompted an S.E.C. investigation into the company’s use of the E.B.-5 visa program. Federal prosecutors have requested records related to a $285 million loan that Deutsche Bank gave the company one month before Election Day, which Kushner Cos. voluntarily turned over. And with Special Counsel Robert Mueller investigating, Kushner has had to testify that he never discussed his family’s financial situation with a Russian banker whom he met during the transition.

People close to Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, have wondered whether all the Sturm und Drang is worth it, considering the few policy wins they have achieved in the White House, and the mounting bad press. All of which makes Charles Kushner’s continued faith in his 37-year-old son even more heartwarming.

“We didn’t raise our children as typical children,” Charles Kushner told The Washington Post in an interview, when asked whether he believes his son can handle the growing pile of responsibilities that have been thrust upon him at the White House. While Jared Kushner has been criticized as an inexperienced child of privilege, his father suggested that it was good breeding, not wealth, that had earned Kushner his elevated station. “They were taught if you have wealth, it is not something to be spoiled about; it is a lot of responsibility, which requires you to do more, better, than if you didn’t have the money.”

He added that he “could not be prouder of the things [Jared] is doing and the sacrifice he has made to try to do some good things for the people who live in our country and maybe some good things for people who live in the world. I see my son taking up the Middle East; the impact on the world could be dramatic.” So far, that impact has included an embassy move labeled by world leaders as the “slap of the century” and a threat to world peace. But in continuing negotiations, Jared does possess one distinct advantage:

The elder Kushner has long been friends with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who once slept in Jared Kushner’s bedroom at the family’s New Jersey home, while Jared moved to the basement.

Never underestimate the lasting impression made by a good host, or the sheer number of flaws a parent will overlook when it comes to their precious offspring—which is, after all, one of the reasons Trump brought Jared to Washington in the first place.

Charles Kushner was particularly impressed by his son’s push to reform America’s prison system, given his own experience serving time for tax evasion, election fraud, and witness tampering. (Kushner pleaded guilty to hiring a prostitute to smear his brother-in-law, among other things.) “I’m passionate about judicial reform as I have seen firsthand the injustice of long sentences and the destruction of human lives who have no hope,” he said. “I believe in second chances, when appropriate, as we are all human and we all make mistakes.” The issue, he added, is “close and personal to Jared . . . because we have seen it from both sides.”