President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, was a top White House official during Trump's first term.
Judd Legum, Rebecca Crosby, and Noel Sims at Popular Information:
President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, was a top White House official during Trump's first term. After exiting the White House in 2021, Kushner launched a new private equity firm, Affinity Partners, and announced he was seeking to raise $7 billion. Kushner had no experience in private equity, and his most significant business experience was nearly bankrupting his family's real estate company.
Who would be interested in giving Kushner billions of dollars? Kushner raised $2 billion from the government of Saudi Arabia through their Public Investment Fund (PIF). The PIF committee that screens investments recommended rejecting Kushner's proposal, citing "the inexperience of the Affinity Fund management" and "excessive" fees. The committee's recommendation, however, was overruled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), who Kushner formed a friendship with during his time in the White House. Kushner helped MBS manage the fallout after United States intelligence agencies determined MBS ordered the brutal murder of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi. To date, Kushner has raised $4.6 billion, including additional funds from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. From its inception, this arrangement was an ethical morass. Kushner is on the payroll of foreign governments and although he does not have a formal position in the second Trump administration, admitted that he still serves as an advisor to his father-in-law. Things just got much worse.
Days before Trump's inauguration, Kushner partnered with his father-in-law's company, the Trump Organization, to develop a Trump-branded luxury hotel and apartment complex in Belgrade, Serbia. Affinity Partners is functioning as a vehicle for foreign governments, including Saudi Arabia, to enrich the President of the United States. In an interview, Kushner insisted that this was all on the up-and-up. “We talked with several brands in the past year,” Kushner told Bloomberg in an interview. "I thought the tower would make a tremendous Trump Tower, so I spoke to Eric [Trump] about it, and he was very excited. So we’ll be bringing them in as our hotel partner.” The development will be known as Trump Tower Belgrade and will be built on a former military site leased to Affinity Partners by the Serbian government. The complex will have 175 hotel rooms and sell 1,500 residences.
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The Trump Organization's global ambitions
Trump Tower Belgrade is not the only foreign business deal that the Trump Organization has been involved in over the last few months. In December, two new developments in Saudi Arabia were announced. Another real estate developer, DarGlobal, will own the sites, but pay the Trump Organization to use Trump branding. The Trump Organization will also work with DarGlobal on another project in the United Arab Emirates. In October, the Trump Organization announced a partnership with a Vietnamese real estate developer to build a $1.5 billion golf course and hotel. Vietnam, which is the US trading partner with the fourth-highest trade surplus, could be heavily impacted if Trump imposes steep tariffs on the country’s exports to the US. On January 10, the Trump Organization released an ethics statement outlining how it will seek to avoid conflicts of interest. The organization released a similar statement just before Trump took office for the first time in 2017. The most glaring difference between Trump’s 2017 ethics statement and his current one is how they handle foreign business deals. In 2017, the ethics statement prohibited "without exception—new foreign deals during the duration of President-Elect Trump’s Presidency," including "any new deals with respect to the use of the 'Trump' brand or any trademark, trade name, or marketing intangibles associated with The Trump Organization or Donald J. Trump in any foreign jurisdictions." It also prohibited transactions with "with a foreign country, agency, or instrumentality thereof, including a sovereign wealth fund, foreign government official, or member of a royal family." The current ethics statement does not include any restrictions on "foreign deals." Since real estate ventures like the new Trump Tower in Serbia require extensive government permitting to be completed, this could give foreign governments leverage over the president. Neither the Trump administration nor the Trump Organization have explained why that restriction will not be maintained during Trump's second term.
With the return of serial Emoluments Clause violator Donald Trump back into office, there is a renewed scrutiny of corruption of the Trump Organization and its global investments.
