Opinion | Jared and Ivanka are slinking back to Gomorrah
By: Kathleen Parker (Washington Post)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
By Kathleen Parker
If only Ivanka Trump were as witty as Barbie. Instead, she and her Ken, Jared Kushner, somnambulate like renegades from the wax museum from one investment fund to the next. Preternaturally perfect and utterly lacking in affect, Javanka, as they're called, make real dolls seem animated.
Do you suppose the naked pursuit of power and money makes people unhappy? Or, in their case, is it the killer company they keep?
Both spawns of excessive wealth and privilege, Ivanka and Jared are reason enough to cast Donald Trump into the outer darkness. Their presence in the White House from 2017 to 2021 was a frequent embarrassment, as they convinced themselves that their value amounted to more than the family name. For a while after the 2020 election, they distanced themselves from Trump, which meant we were all spared their spectral visages.
But those days are nigh gone, as the pair appears to be back in search of the family ring. (Run, Gollum, run.)
Their timing is undoubtedly connected to recent polling showing Trump leading his GOP competitors by nearly 40 points. Family loyalty apparently is a lot like reality TV; it's all about the ratings. However, reports of the couple dropping in on meetings and attending family gatherings came before a federal grand jury issued a four-count criminal indictment charging Trump with co-conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results, defrauding the American people and aiding the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Trump could be doomed. Or not. With him, one never knows. It's hard to gauge whether these latest charges will budge his supporters. I doubt it, since to be a Trump fan is to distrust everyone other than He Who Must Be Obeyed. Nor do supporters probably care that Jared and Ivanka took advantage of their White House status to enrich themselves.
Ivanka might be forgiven for her conflicted relationship with Trump. He's Daddy, after all. But familial attachments do not — and did not — qualify her or Kushner to serve as senior advisers to the president of the United States. When Kushner was denied security clearance by career intelligence officers because of concerns about foreign influence, outside business interests and personal conduct, Trump overrode them.
As for Kushner's credulity-straining role as impromptu diplomat to the Middle East, we can only wonder what other conversations took place as he persuaded leaders in Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco to recognize Israel's sovereignty and normalize relations among them.The Abraham Accords are widely viewed as a landmark development toward building relationships and mitigating tensions in the Persian Gulf region. But it is also increasingly clear that Kushner was simultaneously securing his own financial future via massive investments in his pop-up private equity firm, Affinity Partners, by many of the very same countries that signed the accords. Quellecoincidence.
Kushner's biggest financial backer, however, was Saudi Arabia, which declined to sign the accords. This was of no consequence to Kushner, who was already pals with Mohammed bin Salman, commonly known as MBS, before joining the Trump White House. The two "princes," both then in their 30s and eager to establish themselves on the international stage, reportedly bonded as only the born elite can.
Less than six months after leaving the White House, Kushner secured a $2 billion commitment from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, which MBS controls, despite opposition from the fund's board of directors because of Kushner's lack of experience in private equity. Other countries followed suit, including a signatory to the accords, the UAE. Today, Affinity's investment commitments have reached at least $3 billion, which is not a bad haul for a young adviser to a twice-impeached president who, recently arrested for the third time, faces several fresh indictments.
Skip to end of carouselTrump investigationsDonald Trump has been indicted in four cases. The Washington Post is keeping track of where each Trump investigation stands. Here is a breakdown of all 91 charges Trump faces.End of carousel
Lest I be accused of marinating in my own self-righteous disdain, as former National Review editor Rich Lowry has characterized Kushner critics, let's be clear. Federal law prohibits using one's public position for personal gain. I can't prove Kushner used his position to procure funding for Affinity Partners, but to believe otherwise would be ingenuous.
Even if he didn't break any laws, Kushner crossed every conceivable ethical line in his relationship with MBS by defending him inside the White House when he was under international fire for the murder of Saudi dissident and Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi — even after the CIA concluded that MBS had ordered the killing. As Donald Trump bragged to Bob Woodward, "I saved his a--."
At the same time, Trump sold $8 billion in weapons to Saudi Arabia after vetoing congressional resolutions to block the sale. If the $2 billion wasn't payback, what was it? Perhaps a down payment on future favors from a second-term President Trump.
No one's naive here. The United States is forced at times to negotiate with bad actors. But shouldn't there be limits to what we ignore and, thus, condone to achieve our goals? To essentially dismiss Khashoggi's ghastly murder seems to me a dismembered body too far.
You can hear the Trumpets already. Oh, yeah? What about Hunter Biden? Good question. You don't hear me saying nothing to see here. Investigations are ongoing into Biden's financial dealings with Ukraine and China, and there seems to be plenty to see. The truth is all three of these entitled darlings are skunks — Hunter, Ivanka and Jared. But don't blame the little furry fellah. That smell is the stench of corruption.
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Not a kushner fan but this sentence is laughable:
he was actually a very successful diplomat in the Middle East, as she has to acknowledge in the most back handed way possible.
Jared Kushner has no track record as a respectable businessman. He was a slum lord for petes sake.
Congress should absolutely investigate the Saudi 2 billion dollar investment in a start up private equity company founded by someone with no experience in the field.
Democrats finding out their hypocrisy on Hunter/Brandon is coming to back to bite them in the ass.
Raskin Explains Why Democrats Didn't Probe $2B Saudi Investment In Kushner's Firm In 2020 — But 'A Complete Report' Is Coming
F ormer President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner courted controversy over the $2 billion investment his private-equity fund Affinity Partners received from a Saudi investment fund backed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman .
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) in a recent media appearance revealed why Democrats did not launch an investigation into the investment when the Democratic Party controlled the Senate in 2020 and 2021. What Happened? Raskin said Kushner’s crime came to light after Trump stepped down from office. “Well, remember, Jared's essential crime against the constitutional republic came right after the Trump administration ended,” he said in an interview with MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan, Mediaite reported.
“It was, I think, the day after it ended that he created the corporation which he proceeded to endow with two billion dollars from the homicidal crown prince of Saudi Arabia, and then other sovereign wealth funds from Gulf monarchs,” he added.
The Congressman’s statement came in response to the host pointing out that the former called upon the House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer ( R-Ky) to investigate Kushner’s foreign business dealings, especially with the Saudis.
Raskin noted that even Comer agreed that Kushner crossed an “ethical line.”
“All we're saying is, look, Jared Kushner was actually working in the White House. He was in the administration. Hunter Biden was never in the Biden administration,” he added.
“What we're trying to find out is, exactly what did Saudi Arabia get out of this arrangement, and what is the nature of all the money that's been pouring in,” Raskin said. He also said the Trump administration helped Saudi cover up the assassination of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and they were aligned with the Middle East nation in the Yemen war.
“But look, we're gonna do a complete report on foreign government emoluments that were pocketed by Donald Trump and we're still trying to torture out the information, which we've never gotten,” he added,
Why It’s Important: The unusual nature of Kushner’s Saudi deal has confounded many. Investor and economic analyst Steven Rattner shared a chart on X, formerly Twitter, showing a breakdown of the sources from which Kushner’s Affinity Partners received its assets under management.
The chart showed that about 64.5% of the AUM came from Saudi Arabia while U.S. investors contributed only a paltry amount of $31 million.
"I have been in this business for 40 years. I’ve never seen somebody get two-thirds of their money from a single investor, " Rattner said.
Because Kushner is no longer a part of the federal fucking government; and Raskin is a hypocritical POS?
That is the obvious answer.
Also, there is nothing concealed about the deal. It is all above board- which is the reason the Democrats and everyone else knows about it.
Kushner's company is offering a service- they are not getting $2 billion dollars free and clear. They have to invest it. They make profit off of handling the money; profits for investing it; etc. The Saudis are expecting them to grow the 2 billion dollars- they want a return on the investment. What do you think is going to happen to the Saudi that gave them the money if Kushner's company fails?
Democrats/leftists need to the learn the difference between a legitimate business; and the pay for play that the Brandon family and Clintons do.
Nothing , since he runs the country.