Trump son-in-law Kushner received $2 billion from Saudi Arabia soon after leaving office

Trump son-in-law Kushner received $2 billion from Saudi Arabia soon after leaving office
Kushner secured the huge investment from the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) despite initial doubts from the Saudis.
2 min read
12 April, 2022
Kushner received a huge investment from Saudi Arabia soon after his father-in-law Donald Trump left office [Getty]

Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner received a $2 billion investment in his company from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund six months after Trump left office, according to a report from The New York Times.

Kushner was Trump’s senior advisor during his presidency and cultivated a close relationship with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman.

He secured the huge investment from the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) despite initial doubts expressed by the sovereign fund, reported The New York Times.

The PIF fund green-lighted the payment just days after it expressed doubts about Kushner’s private equity firm Affinity Partners, which included fears that Kushner was a public relations risk.

“This investment aims to form a strategic relationship with the Affinity Partners Fund and its founder, Jared Kushner,” said a letter from a fund staff member cited in the newspaper.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has previously invested in a fund founded by Steve Mnuchin, who was President Donald Trump’s press secretary.

A spokesperson for Kushner’s company said that “Affinity, like many other top investment firms, is proud to have PIF and other leading organisations that have careful screening criteria, as investors.”

Kushner held several important portfolios in the White House during the Trump presidency. His duties included handling the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, overseeing the border wall between the United States and Mexico, and managing the country’s medical stockpile during the coronavirus pandemic.

He was the main architect of the widely condemned 'Deal of the Century' peace plan, which offered the Palestinians only limited sovereignty over parts of the West Bank, and was almost unanimously rejected by Palestinians.