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 Trump’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 in your fund in light of recent prominent reporting that Saudi Arabia made that investment in Affinity just months after you left a senior White House position where you were responsible for shaping Middle East policy,” Rep. Jamie Raskin wrote in a letter to Kushner.
The Maryland Democrat also asked Trump’s son-in-law to list his firm’s foreign investors.
As those who keep an eye on Congress probably know, correspondence and requests for information like these are not altogether uncommon, but they’re also often ignored. As Kushner and his lawyers no doubt realize, Raskin is in the House minority; he cannot launch a committee investigation on his own; and he lacks the unilateral authority to issue subpoenas.
In other words, the congressman’s outreach to Kushner sought voluntary cooperation. Raskin wanted this effort to be bipartisan — the Democrat asked House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer to co-sign his letter — but the Kentucky Republican balked.
Kushner is likely to have a similar response to the Maryland congressman.
There is, however, another chamber to keep an eye on. The Post’s report added:
Raskin’s request is expected to be picked up by a concurrent investigation by the Senate Finance Committee and its chairman, Sen. Ron Wyden (R-Ore.). “The financial links between the Saudi royal family and the Trump family raise very serious issues, and when you factor in Jared Kushner’s financial interests, you are looking right at the cat’s cradle of financial entanglements,” Wyden told The Post last week.
Time will tell what, if anything, comes of this, but keep an eye on the incumbent executive branch. Greg Sargent reported this week that Senate Democrats who’ve taken an interest in the Saudis and the Trump family are facing “an unexpected obstacle: The Biden administration, they say, has been resistant to provide them with the documents they need to carry out that investigation.”
Watch this space.
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