Jared Kushner's influence in his father-in-law's White House appears to be easing somewhat, according to insiders, but White House Chief of Staff John Kelly denied to The New York Times that it's his fault.

Three advisers had told The Times that Kelly has discussed the possibility of Kushner and his wife, Trump's eldest daughter Ivanka, leaving the West Wing by the end of the year, but the retired four-star general denied that claim.

“There was honestly never a time when I contemplated getting rid of Jared and Ivanka," Kelly said, pointing out that the Office of American Innovation, which Kushner runs, has proved its value by sending team members to Puerto Rico to report on the island's hurricane damages.

Early this year, after Trump took office, Kushner had been given free rein, but lately has mostly dropped out of public view, notes the Times. He's still working on a plan to end the generations-long war between Israel and the Palestinians, but Kelly has proved to not to be as permissive as his predecessor, Reince Priebus, was with Kushner or Ivanka.

Kelly has made it clear that Kushner works for him, and that he must operate within the chain of command.

Further, Trump said in an email Friday he still relies on his son-in-law.

“Jared is working very hard on peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and the last thing I would ever do is get in the way of that possibility,” Trump said. “Jared has been very effective since the earliest days of the campaign and the same is true today. He understood the movement then and has been helpful implementing the agenda the American people voted for since.”

Trump critics, though, have also noted that Kushner's role seems to be fading.

“As long as Jared was seen and not heard, he was able to play the role of wonder boy,” GOP strategist Rick Tyler told The Times. "But now he is no longer seen, and we are only left to wonder about the boy whose father-in-law placed the hope of unraveling the world’s most intractable public policy puzzles from peace in the Middle East to reinventing government” in him.

Others reportedly are looking into Kushner's role, though, including special counsel Robert Mueller as part of the ongoing Russia investigation. Kushner has not been questioned by Mueller's team, but congressional investigators have interviewed him.

“Jared’s role working for President Trump is just as important as it was Day 1, only now he doesn’t have to worry about babysitting others,” said Jason Miller, a campaign adviser who remains close to the White House. “His focus was always supposed to be the president’s big-picture, long-term projects, and now Jared can work on those uninterrupted.”