A pair of lawmakers called on the Justice Department to investigate former President Donald Trump's son-in-law under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, arguing that he may be illegally acting as an unregistered foreign agent on behalf of Saudi Arabia, Politico reported Thursday.
Kushner's financial ties to the country — which have grown extensively since the former president left office — have raised alarms from legal experts for years.
According to the report, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) "sent a letter on Thursday to [Attorney General Merrick] Garland, urging the Justice Department to appoint a special counsel to investigate if Kushner had violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act. They point, among other things, to Saudi government-linked investors for his firm and reports that Kushner is playing an informal advisory role to Trump’s campaign."
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Kushner, who was intimately involved in negotiations with Middle Eastern countries when Trump was in office, inked a $2 billion investment deal from the Saudi government's Public Investment Fund in 2021, shortly after Trump left.
The Saudi royal family, whose crown prince Mohammed bin Salman was a beneficiary of Kushner's White House work and who has been extensively praised by Trump despite his involvement in the murder of a Washington Post journalist, oversees the PIF, and reporting has indicated that the Kushner deal was approved over objections by the managers leading it.
“The scale of these undisclosed foreign payments to Mr. Kushner coupled with the national security implications of his apparent ongoing efforts to sell political influence to the highest foreign bidder are unprecedented and demand action from DOJ,” the letter stated. “We therefore urge you to appoint a Special Counsel to investigate whether Mr. Kushner is influencing U.S. domestic and foreign policy on behalf of foreign government clients without making the appropriate mandatory disclosures.”
FARA exists to require anyone who is representing a foreign government to make their ties clear to the public. Some other people in Trump's orbit have been criminally charged with violating this statute.