'That would be stupid!' Kushner brushes off fears his deals could be used to impress Trump
A New York Times interview published Tuesday morning revealed new details about Jared Kushner's business dealings with Saudi Arabia that landed his equity firm $2 billion after his father-in-law former President Donald Trump left the White House.
Eric Lipton, one of three Times reporters to appear on the byline, later appeared on MSNBC to discuss the explosive report with host Nicolle Wallace.
Kushner, who is in the middle of negotiations on controversial — and hotly opposed — proposed developments in Albania and Serbia, met with Lipton near Miami. The reporter asked him about allegations that his deals smacked of conflicts of interest, given that his father-in-law was president and intends to be again, and the he worked as a Trump White House adviser.
Democrats have demanded that the House investigate Kushner's planned developments, requests that have so far not been accepted.
"He feels comfortable that he's avoiding conflicts of interest, but I asked him about the appearance of a conflict of interest, and there is a number of them," said Lipton.
Still, Kushner told him, "he feels his doing the right thing."
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Wallace referred to comments by Donald Trump's former national security adviser, John Bolton, who said, "Jared's success with foreign funds leads to the question of what dealings he was having with them while he was still in the administration."
Chris Christie was "more blunt," Wallace said, playing a clip of the New Jersey Republican saying, "The grift from this family is breathtaking."
"Jared Kushner and Ivanka Kushner walked out of the White House and, months later, got $2 billion from the Saudis," Christie continued. "$2 billion from the Saudis. Do you think it's because he's some kind of investing genius? Or do you think it's because he was sitting next to the president of the United States for four years doing favors for the Saudis? That's your money. That's the money he stole and gave to his family. Do you know what that makes us? A banana republic."
Lipton told Wallace, "His belief is that, as long as he does not ask for favors, and he, you know, does what he calls arms-length transactions, as he told the Serbian government or Albanian government to give him concessions.
"...His feeling is that he's not asking for favors, and he's not getting them."
The reporter asked Kushner what he would do if someone wanted to do him a favor to impress Trump in the future without asking for it.
"And he said, 'That would be stupid, if they were giving me favors that I don't ask for,'" quoted Lipton. "How do we know whether or not that's happening? That's a problem that emerges when you have a father-in-law who's running for president."
See the videos below or at the link here.
Part 1:
Part 2:
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