February 16, 2023 - Washington, D.C. - On Wednesday, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, sent a letter to Jared Kushner, son-in-law of former President Trump and former senior White House advisor, renewing Committee Democrats’ requests for documents related to his investment firm, A Fin Management, LLC (Affinity), which raised $2 billion from the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia.  The letter follows recent reports on the nature of the Saudi investment in Kushner’s fund in light of his role in shaping Middle East policy during the Trump Administration.  Ranking Member Raskin seeks to fully understand whether the investment was tied to Mr. Kushner’s pro-Saudi policies while in office.

“Your efforts to protect the Crown Prince may have allowed him to maintain his position at the top of the Saudi government and, thus, his ability to deliver significant financial benefits to you and your father-in-law after the end of the Trump Administration.  Abdullah Alaoudh, the director for the Gulf at Democracy for the Arab World Now, has stated that ‘[w]ithout the absolute protection of Trump and Kushner, MBS would definitely have fallen.’  President Trump expressed an explicit awareness of the Crown Prince’s debt:  when Secretary Pompeo embarked on a state visit to the Middle East to visit the Crown Prince, he wrote that President Trump told him ‘My Mike, go and have a good time.  Tell him he owes us,’” wrote Ranking Member Raskin.

Committee Democrats raised ongoing constitutional, legal, and ethical concerns regarding the appearance of a senior U.S. official receiving payment in exchange for official actions while in office.  Recent reporting suggests that the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, secretly invested in Mr. Kushner’s fund after Mr. Kushner left government service, following private remarks by former President Trump that certain Saudi government officials, including the Crown Prince, were indebted to him and Mr. Kushner for their pro-Saudi policies.  According to reports, Mr. Kushner structured his fund to conceal that the Saudi sovereign wealth fund was funding the investment.

Since launching the investigation last June, Mr. Kushner has failed to cooperate with the Committee Democrats’ investigation.

“Despite its assurances of cooperation, Affinity failed to produce any documents until July 26, 2022—a full eight weeks after the Committee sent its request letter.  When you finally did produce a small subset of documents, Affinity failed to produce a single communication related to the reasons behind your firm’s receipt of $2 billion from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund or documents substantively related to the Saudi Arabian government’s investment in the firm.  Instead, Affinity’s production consisted mainly of publicly-available materials, including a 435-page Cato Institute report detailing a human rights analysis for every country in the world, a 171-page Saudi Central Bank report, and documents that were not responsive to the Committee’s requests.  After October 12, 2022, Affinity’s counsel simply ignored all requests and communications from Committee staff,” continued Ranking Member Raskin.

Following public comments by Oversight Chairman James Comer acknowledging the unresolved conflicts-of-interests crisis left by the Trump Administration, Ranking Member Raskin invited him to join today’s letter, but Chairman Comer declined. 

In his letter, Ranking Member Raskin renews Committee Democrats’ requests for Mr. Kushner and Affinity to produce documents, including communications between Mr. Kushner and Saudi government officials, and documents sufficient to show the identity of all foreign investors in Affinity, by March 1, 2023.

Click here to read today’s letter.
Source: House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Democrats