For four years, Jared Kushner helped steer Donald Trump’s foreign policy in the Middle East. And for four years, the presidential son-in-law steered the administration in a pro-Saudi direction.
Those positions were provocative at the time, though they became even more controversial after the former president’s 2020 defeat, at which point Kushner created a private equity firm financed primarily by a $2 billion investment from a sovereign wealth fund chaired by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. It was around the same time that a Saudi-backed venture started hosting golf tournaments at Trump-owned properties, and Trump’s family business struck a new deal with a Saudi real estate company.
As a Washington Post report summarized, plenty of insiders “have concerns that Trump and Kushner used their offices to set themselves up to profit from their relationship with the Saudis after the administration ended.”
Those concerns about possible corruption might seem unavoidable, but congressional Republicans have already expressed their complete indifference. GOP lawmakers have concluded that Hunter Biden’s foreign business efforts are worthy of intense scrutiny — despite the fact that he’s never worked in any U.S. administration at any level — but the Trump family and its dealings should be ignored.
Of course, there are lawmakers from two major parties on Capitol Hill, and as The Washington Post also reported, some Democrats aren’t content to just look the other way.
A senior Democrat on Tuesday renewed a request to Jared Kushner for documents outlining how the former White House official received $2 billion from a Saudi investment fund, writing that Kushner had failed to respond to an earlier inquiry and raising new questions about whether he had “improperly traded” on his government work to benefit his financial interests.
“I am deeply troubled by your continued refusal to produce documents regarding the Saudi government’s $2 billion investment…
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