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Two congressional committees led by Democrats want to discover if Jared Kushner’s actions as a Middle East policy adviser in the Trump administration were influenced by the bailout of a financially ailing Manhattan skyscraper owned by his family.
This week, the Senate Finance and House Oversight committees sent letters to the State and Defense departments requesting documents that would shed light on whether “Kushner’s financial conflict of interest led him to improperly influence US tax, trade, and national security policies for his own financial gain.”
The Washington Post revealed the panel’s requests for the first time on Wednesday.
666 Fifth Avenue, a 41-story property owned by Jared Kushner, the 76-year-old son-in-law of former President Donald Trump, and his father Charles, is at the core of the investigation.
Two Democratic congressional committees are investigating Jared Kushner, pictured at the White House in March 2018 alongside Ivanka Trump and chief of staff John Kelly.
Getty Pictures
In 2018, the Kushners executed a deal in which the Canadian financial firm Brookfield Asset Management contributed $1.2 billion in exchange for a 99-year lease on the property, allowing the family to avoid defaulting on a loan due the following year.
Congressional Democrats are investigating if Jared Kushner’s Middle East strategy while the Trump administration was impacted by the rescue of his skyscraper at 666 Fifth Avenue.
AP
Democrats viewed the arrangement with skepticism due to the Qatar Investment Authority’s participation in a Brookfield subsidiary.
The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee is Senator Ron Wyden.
The Qatari firm spent $1.8 billion in the transaction’s fund, Brookfield Property Partners, becoming the second-largest investor after Brookfield itself.
Representative Carolyn Maloney, chair of the House Oversight Committee.
During discussions, the Canadian company stated, “no Qatar-affiliated business is involved in or even aware of this proposed sale.”
In the letters, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) request documents regarding correspondence between the Kushner family, Brookfield, the Qatari fund, and other entities.
In March of 2012, Jared Kushner and his father Charles were in New York City.
Maloney and Wyden wrote, “given the substantial personal financial benefit Brookfield provided to Mr. Kushner and his family, we are deeply concerned by Mr. Kushner’s personal involvement in a variety of policy-making processes in which he appears to have exercised his influence as a senior US government official on matters directly affecting Brookfield and its investors.”
On November 3, 2020, Jared Kushner will meet former President Donald Trump at his campaign headquarters in Virginia.
The two Democrats are curious about the role Ivanka Kushner’s husband, Jared Kushner, played in Saudi Arabia’s decision to break an embargo against Qatar in 2018, while Charles Kushner was in negotiations with Brookfield.
The letter noted that the Kushner Company had approached Qatar multiple times, including in the spring of 2017, about investing in the property, but had been rejected each time.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates initiated their blockade two months later, and Qatar launched a “charm drive” to convince the Trump administration to intercede.
In February 2018, Charles Kushner met with a corporate executive to consider 666 Fifth Avenue after Brookfield expressed renewed interest in the building around the same time.
In April of that year, the Trump administration withdrew its support for the blockade, and the previous president hosted the emir of Qatar at the White House.
Kushner led the White House’s attempts to lift the blockade by the end of 2020, using his friendship with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as leverage.
In January 2021, Riyadh ultimately removed the ban.
A Saudi fund headed by the crown prince invested $2 billion in Kushner’s investment firm, which he established after leaving the White House in January of that year.
»Democrats want to know more about Jared Kushner’s position in the Middle East in relation to Qatar«