Jared Kushner's close relationship with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is drawing more questions about corruption under the roof of Donald Trump's administration.
On MSNBC on Monday, Mehdi Hasan cited an excerpt from Kushner's autobiography in which the former president is quoted, saying: "Jared, read my lips: we're not going to Saudi Arabia. Take no for an answer!"
Kushner then writes, "I didn't interpret his words as a hard no."
Sure enough, a few weeks later, the first major trip by the new administration was not to Israel or other close American allies, but to Saudi Arabia.
The Washington Post exposed how that relationship has paid off big for both Kushner and Trump over the past years and is already slated to make them both money in the future.
Kushner scored a $2 billion investment from the Saudi Royal Fund that advisers warned against, for the former White House aide's new hedge fund. They made up two-thirds of the fund Kushner is running, explained Huffington Post foreign affairs reporter Akbar Shahid Ahmed.
"And he's also getting $20 million or so in annual management, and he will get a share of any profit made from investments," said Ahmed. "We also see the ongoing counselor, the Trump Organization. This was the deal that President Trump felt should be in Florida, to come to New York to sign. So, we'll see a lot of revenue come into the Trump organization with -- and as the ongoing, the LIV golf tournament, Trump's golf courses across the United States are making money."
MBS and Kushner have maintained their close relationship built over the four years that Trump was in office.
"Yes, we are close to the point that Jared Kushner was in Saudi Arabia, literally the night before the Jan. 6th insurrection," said Ahmed. "There were a number of details, a number of meetings that we still don't know very much about. And then I think it's so important to remember, you know, people might say, the U.S. has been close with the Saudis for decades. It's strategic. There is an energy relationship. Sure, no one has ever behaved like this. I'm consistently calling the Trump administration, other officials, and in fact, Republicans, like Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was saying, 'Woah, we don't have to be this close to the Saudis.' This is a different level."
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Hasan called them both "nepo babies," as in nepotism hires in their respective governments. Though, as far as we know, Kushner never ordered the assassination of any reporters.
Hassan also cited the Washington Post, which spoke to the current ethics chief, who said that those who crafted the ethics laws likely never thought a former president would actually try and cash in on their presidency like this.
On MSNBC, former White House Ethics Czar, Walter Shaub, explained that issues like this are at the heart of the reason that he and others called for Donald Trump to put his company and finances into a "blind trust" as he pledged to do during the 2016 campaign.
"Now, this is all the fruits or the gift that keeps giving from when Trump refused to divest his financial interests," said Shaub. "That set us up right there for a series of entanglements that wasn't gonna stop when he left government. Now, on the other hand, Jared Kushner was covered by a lot of laws when he was in government, including the conflict of interest law that prohibits you from working on certain things that could affect your own financial interests. The infuriating thing when you're dealing with the White House official like that, though, is we have no way of knowing what was discussed between him and MBS or any of the other leaders he visited. So, it is entirely impossible to solve. But the appearance is terrible."
Hasan cited the Emoluments Clause that should bar presidents like Trump from scoring profits from those staying in his hotels to curry favor.
"We know they were doing it for access because once he left office they stopped doing it," said Hasan.
"That's right," Shaub agreed. "And he was covered by the Emoluments Clause, and he did violate it," said Shaub. "And unfortunately, former presidents are not covered by that. And I think we do need some kind of provision like that."
He cited his group, the Project on Government Oversight, which worked to expose military officers and high-level officials that were going to work for foreign powers. They're supposed to get permission because they're still covered by the Emoluments Clause. He questioned why the former commander-in-chief is not.
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