Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law and former advisor, has defended a $2-billion investment from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, denying that there was any conflict of interest or that the receipt of the investment was unethical.
Kusher's private equity firm, Affinity Partners, received $2 billion in investment from Saudi Arabia shortly after he left the White House.
Critics have condemned the deal as unethical and a conflict of interest due to the fact that Kushner was working closely with the Saudis on behalf of the Trump administration just prior to the deal.
"If you ask me about the work 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," Kushner told a Miami summit organized by Axios news on Tuesday.
In Q2 2023, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), recorded $38.93 billion in U.S. equity holdings, up from $35.52 billion the previous quarter.
Critics have labeled Kushner's acceptance of $2 billion from the Saudi PIF as unethical in light of the U.S. intelligence conclusion that Saudi Prince Mohammed ordered the 2018 murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The Saudi Crown Prince has denied any involvement, and Kushner told his audience in Miami on Tuesday that he had not seen the intelligence report on this, released in 2021, CBS news reported.
Critics also find a conflict of interest in the deal due to Kushner's role in Trump's vetoing of bills to ban American weapons sales to the Saudis.
On Wednesday, Axios quoted Kushner as saying that in the event of a second Trump administration, he would not join the White House team this time around, committing instead to his private equity group.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
Charles is a writer for Oilprice.com More
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