Another day, another story of breathtaking corruption in Trump World. This time it’s new details about how former President Donald Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner enriched themselves with the help of the Saudis. The story deals yet another blow to the U.S.’s global reputation by exposing the vulnerability of our government to shady quid pro quos.
Last year The New York Times described how a Saudi sovereign wealth fund led by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (often referred to as MBS) invested billions of dollars in Kushner’s fledgling private equity firm six months after the end of the Trump presidency, even though the fund’s advisers assessed that investing in Kushner’s company would be a financial and reputational risk for MBS. The imprudence of the investment was a red flag — ethics experts raised questions about whether it suggested the Saudi crown prince was looking to advance or make good on a political deal.
Kushner was a senior White House official, and details about who invested in a company he launched the day after he left the White House are a matter of public interest.
A new Washington Post report adds more details: Kushner created the company that turned into a private equity fund the day after he left the White House and “structured those funds in such a way that it did not have to disclose the source.” And filings from the Securities and Exchange Commission show that Kushner has declined to describe how almost all of his fund’s assets are from a sovereign wealth fund. The Post reports that Kushner’s company “stands to receive a $25 million management fee annually from the Saudi investment plus a share of the profits.”
In other words, Kushner has sought to block the public from knowing about the source of investment in his company. It’s legal, but it isn’t appropriate. Kushner was a senior White House official, and details about who invested in a company he launched the day after he left the White House are a…
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