Tag: Jared Kushner

CIA Would Consider Kushner’s Actions Espionage

Buck Banks

“I don’t want to overstate this because obviously there is a lot we don’t know… But I can’t keep out of my mind the thought that, if an American intelligence officer had done anything like this, we’d consider it espionage.”

— Former acting CIA director John McLaughlan, responding to reports that Jared Kushner “discussed setting up a secret communications line between Trump’s transition team and the Kremlin, The Hill reports.

Kushner Lied to Get Security Clearance

Buck Banks

“When Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, sought the top-secret security clearance that would give him access to some of the nation’s most closely guarded secrets, he was required to disclose all of his encounters with foreign government officials over the last seven years. … “But Mr. Kushner omitted any mention of dozens of contacts he has had with foreign leaders or officials in recent months. They include a December meeting with the Russian ambassador, Sergey I. Kislyak, and another with the head of a Russian state-owned bank, Vnesheconombank, which was arranged at the behest of Mr. Kislyak.”

— New York Times

Kushners Get Sweet Chinese Real Estate Deal

Buck Banks

$400 million

“A company owned by the family of Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, stands to receive more than $400 million from a prominent Chinese company that is investing in the Kushners’ marquee Manhattan office tower at 666 Fifth Ave,” Bloomberg reports. … The planned $4-billion transaction includes terms that some real estate experts consider unusually favorable for the Kushners. It provides them with both a sizable cash payout… for a property that has struggled financially and an equity stake in a new partnership.”