Robert J. DeNault @robertjdenault ·Jul 20 Thinking about Qatar bailing out Jared Kushner’s business in 2018 after some strange meetings between Jared and Saudi Arabian leaders, and then Trump announcing support for a Saudi blockade of Qatar, for no particular reason today.
It’s been seven months since he left office and Trump’s CFO and one of his closest business associates have now been indicted on criminal charges related to fraud or foreign influence on US policy. Worth thinking about that for a second.
Last week Tom Barrack – who has deep financial ties to Donald Trump and Jared Kushner – was indicted and arrested for allegedly being essentially a spy for a Middle Eastern government. It raised widespread questions about whether Barrack’s indictment is going to lead back to Trump and Kushner. It even led Michael Cohen to suspect that Kushner may already be cooperating with investigators, which would explain why his name hasn’t popped up in any of the mounting number of known criminal probes into the Trump orbit.
Now, in a curious fit of timing, Jared Kushner has suddenly fed Reuters a story about how he’s quitting politics in order to launch an investment firm instead. This is almost hilarious on its face. To be clear, Kushner quit being a part of politics the minute Donald Trump left office. For him to belatedly announce now that he’s “quitting” politics, it serves no purpose other than to try to get headlines out there about how he’s quitting politics.
So why is Jared Kushner suddenly making a point right now of announcing that he’s cutting and running from politics? Given the Barrack indictment last week, the timing can’t be ignored. Is Kushner hoping that this announcement is somehow going to shield him from criminal indictment? Has he flipped? Something is afoot here.