A new book on Jared Kushner’s dealings with Middle Eastern leaders alleges that the United Arab Emirates paid Donald Trump’s son-in-law millions for helping oust a secretary of state the Emiratis found troublesome.
The New Republic’s Edith Olmsted reported the allegation Tuesday. It comes from author Matthew Cole’s book “Princes and Thieves: Jared Kushner and Mohamed bin Zayed’s Secret Plot to Remake the Middle East,” excerpts of which have already drawn fire over claims that Kushner had access to Gulf money while serving in the White House.
According to the book, the UAE paid Kushner to help push out then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who, in Olmsted’s words, “had allegedly become extremely cozy with the Qataris.”
Tillerson had publicly opposed the Saudi- and Emirati-led blockade of Qatar during his 2017–2018 tenure, and both Gulf nations lobbied for his removal, according to The New Republic. Trump announced his firing on Twitter in March 2018. Cole writes that Kushner had quietly pushed for Tillerson’s exit for months.
“In Abu Dhabi and Riyadh, Tillerson’s removal proved once again Kushner’s influence with his father-in-law,” Cole wrote.
A source familiar with the arrangement told Cole that Kushner urged Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, known as MBZ, “to speed up their agreed-upon payment,” The New Republic reported. MBZ was then Abu Dhabi’s crown prince and is now the UAE’s president. According to the book, $50 million was routed through Azerbaijan to a Cyprus bank account for Kushner a month later.
The book’s financial allegations rely on unnamed sources, and Kushner’s attorney has denied that he sought or accepted money from MBZ or held a Cyprus account. Kushner has called the book’s earlier claims “completely insane, categorically false,” and his lawyers have called an excerpt “defamatory per se.”
In a 2018 interview with The New Yorker, Tillerson said he knew who was leaking damaging stories about him. Sources told the magazine he meant Kushner.
Cole also writes that Tillerson’s ouster caused a panic in Qatar. In late March or early April 2018, according to the book, Qatari officials quietly told Kushner they would help him secure his struggling property at 666 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Trump later appeared to soften his stance on Qatar, though it’s unclear what, if anything, he knew about the deal, The New Republic noted.