Mueller looking into whether Kushner business ties impacted Trump policy: report
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team is reportedly investigating whether President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner impacted the Trump administration’s policies based on Kushner Company business dealings.
Witnesses and others close to Mueller’s probe told NBC News that investigators have been asking about Kushner’s business discussions with Turkish, Qatari, Russian, Chinese and Emirati nationals during the presidential transition.
Kushner divested himself from the family company after the presidential transition, when he was offered his current White House job.
The NBC report comes after sources told The Intercept that the Kushner family real-estate company sought an investment from the government of Qatar just weeks before a Middle Eastern blockade against the country, according to a Thursday report.
Kushner’s father, Charles, met with Qatar’s Finance Minister Ali Sharif al-Emadi in New York in April to seek an investment from the Qatari government for the Kushner Companies’ 666 Fifth Ave. property.
According to the NBC report, Mueller is now investigating a similar meeting between Kushner and the former prime minister of Qatar at Trump Tower in December of 2016.
Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani was reportedly considering investing in the Kushner Companies’ real-estate project at a Fifth Avenue property in New York. The project is $1.4 billion in debt. The former Qatari prime minister ultimately decided not to invest. {mosads}
Weeks after the investment deal fell through, the White House backed an economic blockade that affected Qatar, citing the government’s support for terrorism.
But Qatari officials, according to NBC News, believe that Kushner played a role in coordinating the blockade with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as a form of retaliation for not investing.
It is illegal for a government employee, or someone being considered for employment as an adviser — as Kushner would have been during the transition — to make policy recommendations based on financial interest.
The special counsel’s team has been in touch with Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani’s team about the talks at Trump Tower, NBC reports.
The former Qatari prime minister was also planning on giving Mueller evidence that allegedly proves Kushner collaborated with the United Arab Emirates against Qatar, but ultimately decided to hold off, according to NBC.
A spokesperson for Kushner Companies said that company representatives did not meet with Qatari government officials “to solicit sovereign funds for any of our projects,” adding that “to suggest otherwise, is inaccurate and false.”
A spokesman for Kushner’s attorney declined to answer NBC News’s questions, instead issuing a statement calling the reports a “misinformation campaign.”
“Mr. Kushner’s role in the campaign and transition was to be a point person for completely appropriate contacts from foreign officials and he did not mix his or his former company’s business in those contacts and any claim otherwise is false,” the spokesman said.
Updated at 10:32 p.m.