All posts tagged "jared kushner"

Trump 'miscalculated badly' as BBC nightmare threatens to expose his kids: analysis

President Donald Trump's own words could come back to haunt him — and his children and son-in-law.

Salon's Sophia Tesfaye discussed how the president's BBC lawsuit could reveal more information about his statements on Jan. 6, 2021, and his family's connection to the events that day. It's tied to the question around Trump's statement and what he meant when he told a crowd "fight like hell" before a group of insurrectionists attacked the U.S. Capitol.

But Trump might not have realized his previous legal strategy would backfire, Tesfaye argued.

"He miscalculated badly," Tesfaye wrote. "As a public service corporation, the BBC operates under a royal charter that explicitly bars it from entering into out-of-court financial settlements to make litigation disappear. It cannot cut a check to sweep away Trump’s claims. The corporation is legally bound to fight until a verdict is reached — or until Trump himself gives up. And its defense team, anchored by the First Amendment firm Ballard Spahr, has used that obligation to go straight at the people closest to Trump on Jan. 6."

Although Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner have dodged BBC subpoenas from behind their Miami compound, using the Secret Service to block the network, Tesfaye explained. That could delay the process, but it can't stop the lawsuit Trump started, which his children will eventually have to face.

"And if the case proceeds, they may have to say so under oath," Tesfaye wrote.

"Trump’s own conduct made this exposure worse," Tesfaye added. "The BBC also sought his financial records to test the legitimacy of the massive damages he claimed to have suffered — a maneuver that prompted him to quietly abandon his monetary claims rather than open his ledgers to public scrutiny. His lawyers had previously dismissed the request as a 'fishing expedition.' But this is how discovery works: If you claim a broadcast inflicted extraordinary economic harm, the defendant gets to test that claim. Trump built the case that now threatens to expose his own children and son-in-law, and he built it because he assumed no one would ever call his bluff."

Rumors fly as fed-probed billionaire offloads Lakers to a Kushner after White House visit

Rumors are swirling after Dodgers owner Mark Walter, under federal investigation for potential fraud, reportedly agreed to sell the Lakers to President Donald Trump's son-in-law's brother after a recent White House visit.

Walter reportedly sold his controlling stake to Jared Kushner's brother Josh and former Disney CEO Bob Iger for more than $12 billion just weeks after he visited the White House and only a year after the Buss family sold the storied franchise to Walter, multiple reports show. The agreement still requires approval from the NBA's board of governors before it becomes final, and Walter would remain the lead owner of the MLB's Dodgers, the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks and other teams.

Walter's brief tenure has been overshadowed by legal scrutiny, as federal prosecutors, the FBI and the Securities and Exchange Commission have examined his financial firms over potential improprieties tied to insurance subsidiaries. Reports say the probe began with a whistleblower.

Walter has not been charged with any crime, and neither he nor his companies have publicly addressed the investigation. It remains unclear whether the probe has any connection to the Lakers sale.

But that uncertainty hasn't stopped speculation. Several journalists flagged the timing as potentially telling.

"So Mark Walter, who was at the White House recently, is under investigation by the Trump administration and just so happened to abruptly sell one of America's premier sports franchises to the brother of Trump's son in law," independent journalist Aaron Rupar wrote on X.

Joe Pompliano, who authors a newsletter about sports and business, added on X: "I wouldn't say I am a conspiracy theorist, but it does seem weird that a guy who owns multiple sports teams and was in the middle of rebuilding the Lakers entire business operation would sell the team for a 20% gain in 2 years at the same time he is being investigated for fraud."

Joon Lee, an independent sports journalist who formerly reported for ESPN, posited the probe might have prompted the sale.

"Dodgers owner Mark Walter bought the Lakers a year ago for $10B and sells the team for $12B. Walter is reportedly under federal investigation for loan fraud, so this can't be a good sign for how all of that is going," Lee wrote on X.

ESPN senior writer Ramona Shelburne described why the move from Kushner and Iger's group was a surprise to the sports world.

"The Los Angeles Lakers are being sold to American businessman Josh Kushner and Bob Iger for a record breaking price over $12 billion, multiple sources told ESPN," Shelburne wrote on X.

"Kushner and Iger were involved in the expansion process in Las Vegas, but a stunning turn, they pivoted to make an aggressive offer to buy the Lakers from Mark Walter, who had purchased a controlling interest in the team from the Buss family last year," Shelburne added.

For their part, the buyers cast the deal in reverential terms. In a joint statement, Kushner and Iger said they were "deeply honored for the opportunity to become stewards of the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the most iconic sports franchises in the world," vowing to "compete at the highest level."

Walter, in his own statement, called owning the team "one of the great honors of my life — an extraordinary investment," adding: "The Lakers belong to Los Angeles, and I have every confidence the best is still ahead."

Media silence as Kushner's $2B tie to Saudis slips under cover of Trump deal: analyst

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt should be fielding questions about Jared Kushner's $2 billion tie to Saudi Arabia, a media expert fumed Thursday.

Judd Legum, founder of the Substack Popular.info, took to social media to share his disgust after Leavitt was grilled about President Donald Trump's controversial nuclear deal at a White House press conference.

His frustration appeared in the form of a list of news outlets that covered the US-Saudi nuclear deal without mentioning that Jared Kushner, Trump’s senior White House aide, is getting paid by the Saudi government."

Legum's list included The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Associated Press, Reuters, CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, The Guardian, Semafor, The Washington Post, Fox News, The New York Post, BBC, Newsweek, and MS NOW.

Kushner launched his private equity firm Affinity Partners shortly after leaving the White House in 2021 after Trump's first administration, reports show.

The Florida-based company received a $2 billion investment from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, multiple reports show.

The deal drew scrutiny from ethics watchdogs given Kushner's role shaping U.S.-Saudi relations, including his involvement in defending MBS after the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

On his Substack, Legum dubbed the coverage, "A media blackout for Kushner’s corruption."

Questionable Trump insider's rise began with a 3 a.m. ham-and-swiss sandwich: report

President Donald Trump's relationship with peace envoy Steve Witkoff started in an unusual way — over a deli sandwich, according to a Slate report on Wednesday.

Journalist and author Andrea Bernstein described her encounter with Witkoff, the Trump insider, whose financial ties have come under scrutiny as he works as "Special Envoy for Peace Missions."

"He looks like a grandpa, and sounds a little like a Jewish sidekick in a Pixar movie," Bernstein wrote. "I’d known of him as a New York real estate mogul from covering Trump’s first presidency, and New York politics and real estate before that, but only vaguely. One day, I leaned forward to ask Witkoff what brought him to the courtroom that day. He told me he’d come for his friend. That word stuck with me: friend."

That friendship started in the 1980s, around 3 a.m. in New York City, Witkoff has said.

“And he was—I knew who he was. He didn’t know who I was. And he didn’t have any money with him, and I was ordering from a local delicatessen for the people who were on my team. And he asked me if I would order him a ham-and-Swiss sandwich,” according to the report. "Witkoff did. Years later, when the two ran into each other again, Witkoff said, 'he actually remembered who I was, and remembered the sandwich incident. And we just, you know, had just developed a, you know, a friendship as a result of it.'”

That relationship eventually led him into Trump's administration. Since then, a number of questions have surfaced over Witkoff's business dealings amid his negotiating role representing the Trump administration with Ukraine and Russia, and in the Middle East.

"The Iranians see Witkoff’s business ties to the UAE, and Jared Kushner’s ties to the Saudis, not to mention Israel, as cause for deep suspicion as well, people familiar with Iranian negotiators told me," Bernstein wrote. "Saying that Kushner 'is a volunteer' with a 'record of success in helping the President,' Kelly maintained that 'his private business activities have nothing to do with the President or the administration.'"

"Even in Witkoff’s earliest encounters, 'there were concerns about Witkoff business ties,' including his earlier dealings with Qatar and the UAE, said Seyed Hossein Mousavian, a former Iranian diplomat who moved to the U.S. and became a scholar at Princeton University," Bernstein wrote. "'They knew he had close ties to Netanyahu.' The Iranians believed that 'Witkoff had meetings with high-level Israelis before and immediately after' he met with them, Mousavian said."

The White House has denied any conflicts of interest.

"Mr. Witkoff, like all Administration officials, takes seriously his compliance with the government ethics rules," the White House counsel, David Warrington, told Slate. "As Special Envoy for Peace Missions, he has not and does not participate in any official matters that could impact his financial interests. He has also divested from World Liberty Financial, notwithstanding his ability and willingness to recuse."

JD Vance received cryptic warning that Trump envoys 'abusing' access for profits: report

An Iranian insider sent a private message to Vice President JD Vance warning that President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff "were exploiting the negotiations for financial gain," according to a new report from Drop Site News on Wednesday.

The message was sent to Vance through an intermediary as talks were underway in Lake Lucerne, Switzerland in June, a senior official told Drop Site.

"The Iranians warned Vance that the continued presence of President Donald Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner would undermine the chance of turning the June 17 framework into an enduring deal," Drop Site reported.

"The Iranian official spoke to Drop Site on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly," according to the outlet. "In the message, according to the official, Iran conveyed to Vance that the pair were more interested in exploiting insider knowledge of the negotiations to profit in financial markets than they were in reaching a deal. Iranian negotiators also expressed concern about repeated leaks from Kushner to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu."

Witkoff and Kushner reportedly "talk almost every day to Netanyahu" and the head of the Mossad, a U.S. official told Axios. The Israeli prime minister had expressed concerns about the ongoing talks.

A U.S. official has denied the source's claims.

"We transmitted data and assessments through an exclusive channel to Mr. Vance," a senior Iranian official who had direct knowledge of the outreach told the outlet. "Iranian negotiators, he said, communicated to Vance that they believed Witkoff and Kushner were 'abusing' the diplomatic process, 'effectively disrupting the overall negotiating atmosphere.'"

Iranian negotiators have been clear about their stance against Kushner and Witkoff.

"Since the Iran war began, many financial analysts have described a pattern where speculative bets are placed or unusually large positions are taken in key markets related to the conflict and diplomatic events, including consistent announcements from Trump made just prior to the Monday openings of U.S. trading," Drop Site reported. "This has led to widespread public speculation that people with access to inside information are manipulating markets in oil futures, energy stocks, and prediction markets."

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly disputed the report in a statement, condemning Drop Site.

"No such message was ever transmitted to the United States. It’s sad that Drop Site News ‘reporters’ are so filled with hate for America and devoid of respect for themselves that they have become full-throated propagandists for the Iranian regime," Kelly said.

Cocaine-cash probe reaches the land behind Ivanka and Kushner's Albania resort

A Miami businessman wanted in Albania for alleged drug money laundering is suspected of faking deeds to the land where Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner hope to build a multi-billion-dollar resort, new reports show.

Albania's anticorruption prosecution service is investigating whether Artur Shehu transferred land to Albania Land Development, a Kushner-linked company, with forged deeds and falsified titles, according to reporting by Al Jazeera and Reuters.

"Prosecutors allege Shehu and his associates funnelled proceeds from cocaine trafficking into Albanian property, using falsified titles to disguise the money’s origin, and have since frozen roughly 110 million euros ($126m) tied to the sale in a notary’s account," Al Jazeera reported.

Shehu’s lawyer Kujtim Cakrani denied the allegations to Reuters.

“Nothing that has been alleged regarding Mr Artur Shehu’s character is true,” he told Reuters. "Mr Shehu is aware of the allegations made by the Albanian prosecution. These allegations do not concern him because he maintains that the truth is entirely different from what the prosecution claims."

A Justice Department spokesperson declined Reuters' request for comment.

Ivanka and Kushner's announcement that they plan to build a $1.6 billion luxury resort on Sazan Island, a protected nature preserve and Albania's largest island, already sparked mass protests. It hasn't stopped the couple from moving forward with the deal and snapping up coastal land.

Neither Ivanka, Kushner nor Albania Land Development has been accused of wrongdoing in the case.

Shehu sold a strip of pristine Albanian coastline to Kushner's company in April, according to reporting by Reuters.

"Reasonable suspicions are formed, based on evidence, that the above-mentioned assets were acquired through the use of forged documents," according to case files reviewed by Reuters.

Reuters also reported that an Albanian organized crime-fighting agency issued a warrant seeking Shehu's arrest for laundering money for South American cocaine traffickers shipping drugs into European ports.

Cakrani confirmed Shehu was a target but said he was unconcerned about the arrest warrant, telling Reuters it was "widely believed" that Albanian prosecutors operate under the influence of politicians and business figures.

'How humiliating': JD Vance ripped as his confident Iran boast unravels in real time

Vice President JD Vance is facing online mockery after a boast about the recent Iran deal backfired.

Vance went on Fox & Friends Weekend on Saturday morning to tout Trump's new Iran deal. He told the Fox program, "My understanding, talking to Steve and Jared this morning, is that things are going well," referring to Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

"The United States has all the cards," Vance continued. "The straits are now open."

Less than a few hours after he made those comments, Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, and online commentators let him have it.

"How humiliating," writer Polly Sigh reacted on X.

"Steve and Jared - the two who completely bungled these negotiations from the start which led us into this mess," added MeidasTouch, a political news network.

"Talking to Steve and Jared. Good lord," wrote Missouri Democratic congressional candidate Fred Wellman.

"He's not a particularly good liar," veteran journalist Bill Kristol said. "But he's certainly a shameless one."

"Believe nothing that comes out of his mouth," Middle East and geopolitical analyst Matthew RJ Brodsky posted.

" Trump has given Vance enough rope to hang himself," economist and author Anders Aslund wrote. "Witkoff and Kushner are no negotiators, nor knowledgeable. The US has no cards."

"We said Uno. Iran said Draw Four," writer and podcaster Hemant Mehta posted, playing off Vance's card metaphor.

"It might be time to retire the 'we have all the cards' metaphor," University of Ottawa professor Roland Paris suggested. "Given how obviously the administration is being outplayed by those who supposedly don't have any cards."

Norman Ornstein, a political scientist and contributing editor for The Atlantic, simply reacted, "Hahahahahahahahaha."

Ex-GOP operative brutally mocks glaring hole in Ivanka's island story

Ivanka Trump's story about how she and Jared Kushner seemed to stumble upon the Albanian island where they want to build their $1.4 billion resort has a glaring hole, according to an ex-GOP operative.

Steve Schmidt couldn't help but laugh during his podcast and sing "Albania! Albania!" while he broke apart Ivanka's story about discovering the island while swimming in the Mediterranean Sea and then walking ashore to explore it.

"She got five words in," before she started lying, as he notes that "She would have stepped on her first landmine."

Schmidt explained with the help of his guest, Canadian podcaster Dean Blundell, that the Albanian island of Sazan is littered with landmines and ordnance.

On top of that, even though Ivanka says the island is in the Mediterranean, Blundell points out that it sits squarely "in the Adriatic" Sea.

Dead Air: Ivanka and Jared's special "discovery" by Steve Schmidt

Read on Substack

Trump envoy's secret meeting with top nuclear scientists a clear sign for experts: report

President Donald Trump's Iran envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner made an unannounced trip to visit the nation's top nuclear experts at the national lab in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, according to an Axios report on Friday.

A deal to end the Iran war has not yet been reached, and many of the conditions were still under consideration, but the ongoing negotiations and secret meeting at the energy department facilities on Thursday signaled the experts "could play a role in nuclear negotiations with Iran," Axios reported.

"This meeting in Oak Ridge doesn't mean that a deal is going to happen, but it is a sign that the negotiations are in a very serious phase and that there is a good chance to get it done and we want to be prepared," a U.S. official told the outlet.

"Some of the country's foremost experts in uranium processing and centrifuge technology are based at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Y-12 National Security Complex. In the past, nuclear materials and equipment — including from Kazakhstan and Libya — were routed through Tennessee," according to Axios.

The Trump administration and the National Nuclear Security Administration have not commented on the meeting.

The White House has indicated 'positive indications' of a potential finalized deal; however, internal divides among Iranian leaders have continued.

"If the negotiations advance to the second phase, the team of experts that met with Witkoff and Kushner would have to develop a plan for the disposal of Iran's nuclear material, how to limit the enrichment program further, and how to verify compliance," Axios reported.

Jared Kushner's luxury resort hit with anti-corruption probe as protests explode: report

Jared Kushner's luxury coastal resort project in Albania was under investigation by the country's anti-corruption prosecutors amid growing protests against the development, Politico reported on Monday.

President Donald Trump's son-in-law is the head of Affinity Partners, a private equity firm behind a project slated to include 10,000 hotel rooms located "on the uninhabited Adriatic island of Sazan and several hundred hectares of the Vjosa-Narta protected landscape, a sensitive coastal wetland area home to flamingos, seals and sea turtle nesting sites," according to Politico.

Albania's special anti-corruption prosecution office, SPAK, said it had launched a probe into the change in land ownership in 2024, as questions have been raised about the land's protected status.

Kushner is married to Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and has a multi-billion dollar real estate portfolio. He has been serving as the president's special envoy for peace and has been involved in negotiations involving Iran, Gaza and the war in Ukraine, which has raised eyebrows among critics over potential conflicts of interest.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has confirmed to Politico that the negotiations around the project were ongoing. He has "denied that the project encroaches on a protected wildlife reserve and said that the final proposal has yet to be submitted and the environmental study is not complete."

Protests have broken out in the country over the project since May, with people calling for the project to be halted and to protect the area. Activists have also called for the prime minister to resign.

Some of the demonstrations have become violent.

"Footage emerged — after protests Saturday — of private security guards appearing to assault and then drag a protester along a cliff, while threatening other demonstrators who attempted to remove fences and halt construction," Politico reported.