Kushner’s Saudi Deals Draw Oversight Demand From House Democrats

(Bloomberg) -- House Democrats are renewing calls for information from former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, on his business dealings with Saudi Arabia, countering Republican accusations of influence-peddling by President Joe Biden’s family.

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In a letter to Kushner on Wednesday, Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Oversight and Accountability Committee, asked that Kushner supply details about a more-than-$2 billion Saudi investment in his private equity firm just months after Kushner left the White House.

“I am writing because you may have acted to benefit your personal financial and business interests to the tune of billions of dollars from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia shortly after leaving government office and also because of your ongoing failure to cooperate with the Committee’s continuing investigation into this matter,” Raskin writes.

Raskin adds that the committee remains concerned that this investment “may have constituted a quid pro quo for your official actions in the White House.” He gives Kushner until March 1 to respond.

Raskin is turning the focus back on Kushner as the committee’s new chairman, Representative James Comer of Kentucky, and other Republicans have been pressing investigations of business activities involving the president’s son Hunter Biden and others.

Kushner had served as a senior adviser in his father-in-law’s administration, with a portfolio that included the Middle East. After Trump left office, Kushner began establishing his firm, Affinity Partners (A Fin Management LLC), in 2021. The company months later landed a $2 billion investment from a fund led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, according to published reports.

A spokesman for Kushner’s firm told the New York Times last year of the company’s relationship with the Saudi Public Investment Fund, “Affinity, like many other top investment firms, is proud to have PIF and other leading organizations that have careful screening criteria, as investors.”

There was no immediate response to a message Wednesday to a company legal official for a response from Kushner about Raskin’s letter.

Former Oversight Committee Chairman Carolyn Maloney of New York had previously sought information on Kushner’s deals, but Raskin said the company did not comply with those requests.

Comer did not sign the letter to Kushner and in a statement said the committee was focused on the Biden administration.

“Ranking Member Raskin and Committee Democrats have a long way to go to prove they are interested in true oversight after having spent the past two years giving the Biden Administration a free pass,” Comer said.

The committee held an initial hearing last week where Republicans focused on Hunter Biden’s work with foreign entities, including in Ukraine, while his father was vice president.

The president has denied knowledge of, or involvement in, his son’s business dealings.

Comer told Bloomberg last month that some of the dealings involving family members of previous presidents would be reviewed as well, but when pressed said, “We’re not investigating Jared Kushner.”

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