6 March 2018 10:09 am Views - 1438
US, (Daily Mail), 5March 2018 -
A high-ranking Democrat Senator Chris Murphy, of Connecticut, spoke out on Sunday about the mounting allegations about Kushner’s family financial dealings in the Middle East, and implications that he used US foreign policy as a tool of personal retaliation.
The allegations date back to April of 2017, when Kushner’s father Charles met with Qatari Finance Minister Ali Sharif Al Emadi, according to the Intercept. At the meeting Charles sought a cash infusion from Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund for the Kushner family’s 666 Fifth Avenue property in Manhattan but was rebuffed.
The Fifth Avenue property is reportedly facing a $1.4billion in debt due in 2019.
In May 2017, Kushner accompanied Donald Trump to Saudi Arabia in his first foreign trip as president.
On the trip, the White House strongly backed Saudi Arabia in a blockade against regional rival Qatar,and sealing a $350billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia. ‘For many of us that follow the Middle East closely, we could not understand why the Trump administration was so firmly taking the Saudis’ side in this dispute between the Saudis, the Emiratis and the Qataris, because the United States has very important interests in Qatar,’ Murphy said on Sunday.
The US maintains a key airbase in Qatar with over 11,000 personnel. ‘If the reason that this administration put US troops at risk in Qatar was to protect the Kushners’ financial interests, then that’s all the evidence you need to make some big changes in the White House,’ Murphy said.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller has asked witnesses about Kushner’s attempts to secure financing for his family’s real estate ventures, focusing specifically on his talks with people from Qatar and Turkey, as well as Russia, China and the United Arab Emirates, according to NBC News.