Democrats Demand Inquiry of Jared Kushner's $2 Billion Saudi-Deal After Trump Left Presidency
Before the actual face-off at the 2024 elections, the two leading parties of the United States are trying to pull each other down on the legal front. Previously, the Republicans demanded the impeachment of Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden's foreign money. Now, Democrats targeted Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.
In a revengeful act, Democrat Jamie Raskin warned in a new letter that if they are re-elected for a second term, they'd go after Kushner's business deal with his equity firm worth $2 billion with Saudi Arabia after the Republicans left the presidency and the White House, per Daily Mail.
The letter read, "We write to urge you to convene a hearing regarding Jared Kushner's apparent influence peddling and quid pro quo deals involving investments in exchange for official actions and to examine the resulting threats to our national security," Raskin and Representative Robert Garcia wrote to top Republican James Comer.
Apparently, six months after leaving the White House, Kushner signed a $2 billion investment for his newly formed private equity firm, Affinity Partners, from a fund led by the Saudi crown prince who's been a close ally during the Trump administration, per The New York Times.
However, the deal had many objections including, the inexperience of the Affinity Fund management, the Kingdom would take full accountability for the bulk of the investment and risk, the proposed management fee which seemed excessive, and public relations risk since Kushner's prior role as father-in-law Trump's senior adviser.
Additionally, Kushner secured more lucrative deals more specifically in Albania and Serbia. During his time in the Trump administration, the former POTUS' son-in-law capitalized on the relationships he formed. Alongside Kushner was Ric Grenell, who served as acting director of national intelligence under Trump and was also an ambassador to Germany and special envoy to the Balkans.
Democrats have alleged Kushner and Grenell "have been openly using their relationship with Edi Rama, the Prime Minister of Albania, whom then-President Trump received unconstitutional payments from while serving as Commander-in-Chief."
However, Kushner defended his business dealings with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the crown prince who was implicated of killing Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. Aside from serving Trump advisory, Kushner was also responsible for Middle East peace efforts and developed a relationship with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, overseeing social and economic reforms.
While speaking at the summit sponsored by media company Axios, the 43-year-old clarified he'd followed every law, "If you ask me about the work that that we did in the White House, for my critics, what I say is point to a single decision we made that wasn't in the interest of America."
Meanwhile, he also defended the Saudi leader saying, "I know the person who I dealt with. I think he's a visionary leader. I think what he's done in that region is transformational."
