Yes, shamelessness is their super power, but they are really gilding the lily these days.
As @atrupar tweeted, “The initiation fee for Mar-a-Lago is $200,000. The RNC spent more than $100,000 to have a banquet there earlier this year.” And every Thanksgiving President Trump served a dinner there for his paying customers. But sure, this is a real scandal.
Meanwhile:
Yeah:
As a White House adviser in the Trump administration, Jared Kushner took a special interest in the petroleum-rich monarchies of the Persian Gulf.
He formed a personal friendship with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. He helped forge ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, and backed Emirati rulers in a feud with Qatar. Since the electoral defeat of his father-in-law, former President Donald J. Trump, Mr. Kushner has stayed active in the region through a nonprofit organization he established.
Now, in a move that has raised eyebrows among diplomats, investors and ethics watchdogs, Mr. Kushner is trying to raise money from the Persian Gulf states for a new investment firm he has founded. So far, he is having only mixed success.
Qatar, whose leaders saw Mr. Kushner as an opponent in the administration, declined to invest in his firm, a person familiar with those conversations said. So did the main Emirati sovereign wealth funds; Emirati rulers saw Mr. Kushner as an ally but questioned his track record in business, according to a person with knowledge of the discussions.
But the Saudis are more interested, according to four people briefed on their continuing negotiations. The kingdom’s $450 billion Public Investment Fund is negotiating with Mr. Kushner over what could prove to be a sizable investment in his new firm, two of those people said.
In a brief phone call, Mr. Kushner declined to discuss his new firm, Affinity Partners, and it is not clear which other investors he has spoken to so far inside or outside the United States. According to a person familiar with the firm’s plans, Mr. Kushner hopes to raise an amount in the low billions of dollars by early next year.
But his inquiries to Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds have raised questions about the ethics — or at least the optics — of seeking to raise large sums from officials he had dealt with on behalf of the U.S. government as recently as January, especially given the possibility of Mr. Trump running for president in 2024.
Mr. Kushner’s business experience is largely limited to the time he spent running his family’s real estate company. His best-known deal was the purchase of 666 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, for $1.8 billion in 2007, which became a financial albatross when the recession hit soon after. He was also the owner and publisher of The New York Observer for a decade, until his father-in-law became president.
During the Trump administration, Mr. Kushner developed a particularly close rapport with Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He played a leading role in the White House in defending Prince Mohammed after U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that he had directed the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi columnist for The Washington Post, who had criticized of the kingdom’s rulers.
The Abraham Accords were evidently nothing more than a negotiating tool for Kushner and Mnuchin. And who knows what else they’re promising? The way things are going there’s an excellent chance Trump will be back in the White House in just three more years.
I do hope that Steve and Jared have considered cutting Daddy in on the deal, though. He doesn’t like it when he doesn’t get a taste.