Jared Kushner’s father, Charles Kushner, met with the Qatari finance minister last year, but turned down financial backing for a New York real estate venture to prevent a potential conflict of interest for the senior White House adviser and presidential son-in-law, The Washington Post reported Monday.
“I was invited to a meeting,” Charles Kushner told the newspaper in a statement.
{mosads}“Before the meeting, Kushner Companies had decided that it was not going to accept sovereign wealth fund investments. We informed the Qatar representatives of our decision and they agreed. Even if they were there ready to wire the money, we would not have taken it.”
The Post said Charles Kushner told the newspaper in January that he would not have accepted the financing, but only made the comment on the record Sunday, when he provided more details.
The meeting between Charles Kushner and the Qatari official took place in New York City’s St. Regis Hotel in April of 2017.
Jared Kushner had already left the family company, Kushner Companies, at the time of the meeting to work in the Trump administration.
But the Post noted that the Kushners previously looked at Qatar for financing between 2014 and 2016.
The Intercept first reported the meeting between the elder Kushner and the Qatari finance minister earlier this month.