He’s right. It’s outright corruption.
This long expose of Jared Kushner’s corrupt foreign business dealings (NY Times gift link) will make you reach for the tequila. How are these people getting away with this stuff?
Jared Kushner’s investment fund is not especially large by global finance standards. But as he gets it fully up and running, each step is bringing with it ethical issues that would only grow if his father-in-law, Donald J. Trump, should win another term as president.
His $3 billion fund is financed almost entirely from overseas investors with whom he worked when he served as a senior adviser in the Trump White House. He has taken money from government wealth funds in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, as well as from Terry Gou, a founder of Foxconn, the Taiwan-based electronics manufacturer, whose role in Mr. Kushner’s firm has not been previously disclosed.
In total, 99 percent of the money placed with him by investors has come from foreign sources, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission in late March.
Mr. Kushner’s firm, Affinity Partners, is collecting approximately $40 million a year in management fees from those investors even before any share of profits earned on investments. He has made 10 investments to date, totaling $1.2 billion, many of them in companies based abroad.
The investments include stakes in the Shlomo Group, an Israeli car-leasing and financing company; Dubizzle Group, a Dubai-based online real estate site; EGYM, a Munich-based electronic fitness company; Mosaic, a California-based solar lending site; and Zamp, an Abu Dhabi-backed fast food company that operates more than 1,000 restaurants in Brazil.
Other investments include two insurance businesses and a software company.
The foreign transactions — previously unseen in scale and speed for a former White House adviser — are bringing fresh scrutiny as Mr. Kushner’s father-in-law again seeks the White House and control over American foreign policy.
[…]
In a series of interviews, Mr. Kushner, 43, laid out new details of his effort to ramp up his firm. He also defended himself against the conflict-of-interest questions that have swirled around him since he left the White House and began soliciting investors.
“Following the laws and the rules is something we always do,” he said. “Perception, I’ve learned that from my time in politics, is important. But I can’t control what everyone is going to write or say about me.”
Mr. Kushner, the sole owner of the company, said he hoped to generate billions of dollars in additional returns for his investors and himself after helping to expand the companies he is investing in.
He has set up shop on the ninth floor of an office tower north of Miami. Its walls are filled with mementos from his time at the White House, including at least a dozen items signed by Mr. Trump, often with the words “Jared, Great Job. Thanks.”
Mr. Kushner has said he does not intend to return to the White House. But pressed on whether he would definitively rule out going back to government, he spoke instead about how happy he was in his life right now. He continues to offer advice to America First Policy Institute, a nonprofit set up by former Trump White House officials who are already preparing for a possible return to power.
Please click on that gift link up at the top to read the whole thing. It. Is. Stunning. And perhaps the most stunning thing about it is the crusade the Republicans launched against that piker Hunter Biden for his ancient and penny ante foreign dealings. I can’t for the life of me understand why the Democratic Senate hasn’t launched full bore investigations into what’s going on here. Even Republicans in the article acknowledge that nobody’s seen the scale and speed with which anyone has cashed in as Jared has done.
For some reason Trump and his family’s flagrant corruption has never interested people much which is astonishing. It’s unprecedented and happened right out in the open and it’s hardy even a scandal. And I’m sure that when he is finally defeated the Democrats will simply say that they want to turn the page and that will be that. It’s outrageous.