Two prominent Democratic lawmakers are urging the Justice Department to go after former president Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner over his business dealings with Saudi Arabia.
Senator Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) and Representative Jamie Raskin (D., Md.) wrote a letter Thursday asking Attorney General Merrick Garland to create a special counsel to investigate whether Kushner is acting as an agent of the Saudi government.
“While on the Saudi government’s payroll, Mr. Kushner is simultaneously serving as a political consultant to former President Trump and acting as a shadow diplomat and political advisor to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and other foreign principals,” the lawmakers wrote.
“Despite being engaged in plainly political activities, Mr. Kushner has not made [Foreign Agents Registration Act] disclosures to DOJ related to the millions of dollars he receives annually by entities owned and controlled by the governments of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar,” they added.
The Foreign Agents Registration Act makes it illegal to act as a foreign principal without registering wit the federal government and disclosing payments. FARA has received more attention in recent years because of the prosecution of high-profile figures such as former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and disgraced former senator Bob Menendez (D., N.J.).
Wyden chairs the Senate Finance Committee, a Democratic-led panel currently investigating Kushner’s investment fund Affinity Partners and its foreign backing. The letter outlines the $2 billion investment the Saudi government’s Public Investment Fund poured into Affinity Partners, generating an estimated $87 million of management fees since June 2021. The estimated income is based on Affinity Partners’s fee structure, as disclosed to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Qatar and the United Arab Emirates combined with a Taiwanese billionaire have invested another $1 billion into Affinity Partners.