Presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner is reportedly being probed for violating ethics laws — specifically, over loans obtained by the Kushner family real estate business following a meeting Kushner had with finance executives while he was a senior adviser in the White House, a situation that would seemingly violate conflict of interest rules.
Yet the White House officially denied that Kushner was in trouble during a Tuesday press briefing, during which White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that lawyers are “not probing whether Jared Kushner violated the law.”
The alleged probe was revealed in a letter to Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., from David J. Apol, acting director of the Office of Government Ethics.
“Your letter raises questions about the ethical implications of a senior White House official holding a broad portfolio of government responsibilities while also maintaining a financial interest in active business entities ... and meeting with potential investors and creditors in those business entities,” Apol wrote in the letter dated March 22. “ I have discussed this matter with the White House counsel’s office in order to ensure that they have begun the process of ascertaining the facts necessary to determine whether any law or regulation has been violated.”
“The White House informed me that they had already begun this process,” Apol continued.
Krishnamoorthi reportedly was asking Apol for information regarding the New York Times report in February alleging that Kushner's companies received $184 million in loans from Apollo Global Management and $325 million from Citigroup in 2017. Kushner allegedly met with executives from both firms prior to receiving the loans.
For the past month, Democrats have been raising public concerns over that Times report. In two separate letters to the aforementioned companies, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Rep. Elijah Cummings D-Md., demanded that Citigroup and Apollo Global Management release details on the loans to Kushner.
“Federal ethics laws prohibit federal employees from profiting from their government service, and Mr. Kushner's refusal to fully divest from his financial holdings raises questions about his behavior as a Special Adviser to President Trump," one letter stated. "It would be a serious matter if the loans provided to Kushner Companies by Citigroup resulted in a violation of federal ethics laws."
In a response to that request, Citi wrote its own letter (which appeared in the Wall Street Journal) defending itself, stating that “the Kushner family has been a client of Citi for decades.”
“This transaction was done in the normal course of Citi’s commercial real estate lending business, received the necessary credit and risk approvals without input from Mr. Corbat, and was unrelated to any discussions with Mr. Kushner,” the bank wrote.
Abbe Lowell, Kushner’s private attorney, told the Wall Street Journal in an article published March 26 that “the White House counsel concluded there was were no issues involving Jared.”
Kushner has been under scrutiny for financial and business conflicts of interest since the first day of the Trump administration, though his personal ties to President to Donald Trump have protected him insasmuch as the administration continues to defend him. Indeed, as Trump's son-in-law and husband of his beloved daughter Ivanka, Kushner remains in an ideal position to indulge in corruption and evade the consequences.
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