As they widen their inquiry, two strong Democratic committee chairs are scouring federal files for any evidence that may shed light on Jared Kushner’s ‘financial entanglements’ while serving as a senior White House advisor.
They are investigating Kushner’s policy role as a top Middle East advisor to his father-in-law, Donald Trump, at a time when his own firm was seeking an investor to save a Manhattan office building with a large debt coming due.
Ron Wyden, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Rep. Carolyn Maloney, chair of the House Oversight Committee, sent letters to the State Department and the Pentagon seeking any information regarding the transaction, Kushner’s financial interests, or Brookfield Asset Management, the company that paid $1.1 billion for a 99-year lease on the building.
In addition, they received and disclosed fresh records pertaining to Kushner’s efforts to find an investor in 2016 and 2018, when his father Charles Kushner undertook outreach while his son was employed by the White House.
The firm of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner sold a lease to a Manhattan office building for $1.1 billion but retained ownership.
Trump would grant Kushner a pardon during the president’s final days in the White House.
The focus of the lawmakers is on the property deal involving 666 Fifth Avenue, which the Kushners arranged.
In an email dated April 15, 2016, Brookfield chairman Ric Clark thanked Kushner for his visit last Friday. We are enthusiastic about your endeavor. Then he mentioned a few follow-ups and added, ‘Congratulations on yesterday’s election. I’m sorry I was not present. This was an allusion to the New York Republican primary, which Trump won en route to becoming president.
The letters to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken request various Kushner-related details.
While advising Trump, Kushner crafted a portfolio that encompassed the Middle East. Here, he speaks with Paris Saint-Germain President Nasser Al-Khelaifi during the Group G match between Brazil and Serbia at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner attended the World Cup in Qatar. Both have left politics since advising Trump.
The legislators requested details via correspondence with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The showpiece building was a significant Kushner investment, but it required a fresh influx of capital.
The MPs got a letter from Brookfield Property Group chairman Ric Clark to Jared Kushner expressing the company’s enthusiasm for Kushner’s initiative. At the time, Kushner was assisting to manage the Trump presidential campaign.
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner currently reside with their children in Florida. During the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdullah Al Thani, Jared Kushner, and Ivanka Trump are shown.
It is stated that a Qatari national wealth fund had an interest in Brookfield and that the $1.1 billion investment “enabled Kushner Companies to escape an imminent mortgage default and preserve full control of the building.”
It states that the firm provided Kushner with a’substantial personal financial gain’ and that legislators are ‘very worried’ about his personal engagement in legislative concerns where he had direct control over Brookfield and its investors.
It referenced public reports that the LLC that signed the lease had $2 billion in capital from sovereign sources in the Middle East.
Kushner resigned from his corporate position when he entered Trump’s White House, becoming Trump’s trusted unpaid counselor on a variety of domestic and global policy matters.
Legislators asserted that Kushner’s role in U.S. policy toward Qatar, which is now hosting the World Cup, “creates the perception that he utilized his position as Senior White House Advisor for personal advantage.”
The letter references Saudi Arabia’s “punitive boycott” of Qatar after Kushner firms “approached Qatar” with investment proposals.
The letter cites an NBC article about the effort, which also references Kushner’s December 2016 meeting with former Qatari prime minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Al Thani at Trump Tower.
In their letter, the congressmen state that the materials they discovered “raise serious doubts as to whether Brookfield’s rescue of 666 Fifth Avenue was part of a Qatari government attempt to appease Mr. Kushner, who had long sought to secure financing for the ailing building.”
In addition, legislators discovered 2018 email communication between Clark and Charles Kushner. In February of 2018, Charles Kushner reached out to the chairman of Brookfield, stating that he would ‘appreciate it if you could find a time next week that would be convenient for you to continue our chat’
Clark responded to the older Kushner to express appreciation for his outreach.
A month earlier, Charles Kushner had informed the Washington Post, which reported on the letter, that he avoided sovereign wealth funds to prevent conflict.
Maloney’s campaign comes only weeks before she leaves Congress and Republicans assume control of the influential Oversight panel. The next Republican chairman has pledged to investigate ‘Biden influence pedaling’ and the Hunter Biden laptop incident, marking a dramatic shift in the committee’s agenda.
It is unclear whether government entities possess some of the requested information. The letter requests all contact between the Pentagon and the building, Brookfield, or Kushner family business interests.
Six months after leaving the White House, Kushner’s investment business, Affinity Partners, received a $2 billion investment from Saudi Arabia. In his book, Breaking History, Kushner describes the building acquisition.
I had no intention of allowing the investment to fail. I had less leverage, so I was willing to speak with anyone,’ he wrote.
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