The Prince is one of, if not the most wealthy person on Earth. Of
course he is going to have the Trump family in his mink lined pocket.
In fact, our entire Federal government is being embrace by the Prince
and his fellow multi billionaires around the Globe.
We folks called, "John and Jane Q. Public", are such gullible little
creatures, splashing around in the political muck and fast talk that
means nothing and everything. That muck we're splashing around in
happens to be the "Swamp" that Donald Trump promised to drain. Oh,
did you think he meant a different swamp? No my little darlings,
Uncle Donald meant that great public swamp that is made up of all
sorts of fragments of Social Services. That's the swamp he was
talking about. You say, "No"? Just look at the people Donald Trump
has bumped out, and the people he has embraced as the leaders in his
campaign to "reform" America and make her Great Again. Do you notice
any friendly faces among his appointees? Well, to qualify that, the
smiles on their wealthy, healthy faces are for their great gains, not
for the Masses.
But I guess we Americans just love to be lied to...again and again and again...
Carl Jarvis
On 3/23/18, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Saudi Crown Prince Boasted That Jared Kushner Was “In His Pocket”
Alex Emmons, Ryan Grim, Clayton Swisher
March 21 2018, 5:09 p.m.
Photo: The White House/flickr
Until he was stripped of his top-secret security clearance in February,
presidential adviser Jared Kushner was known around the White House as one
of the most voracious readers of the President’s Daily Brief, a highly
classified rundown of the latest intelligence intended only for the
president and his closest advisers.
Kushner, who had been tasked with bringing about a deal between Israel and
Palestine, was particularly engaged by information about the Middle East,
according to a former White House official and a former U.S. intelligence
professional.
In June, Saudi prince Mohammed bin Salman ousted his cousin, then-Crown
Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, and took his place as next in line to the throne,
upending the established line of succession. In the months that followed,
the President’s Daily Brief contained information on Saudi Arabia’s evolving
political situation, including a handful of names of royal family members
opposed to the crown prince’s power grab, according to the former White
House official and two U.S. government officials with knowledge of the
report. Like many others interviewed for this story, they declined to be
identified because they were not authorized to speak about sensitive matters
to the press.
In late October, Jared Kushner made an unannounced trip to Riyadh, catching
some intelligence officials off guard. “The two princes are said to have
stayed up until nearly 4 a.m. several nights, swapping stories and planning
strategy,” the Washington Post’s David Ignatius reported at the time.
What exactly Kushner and the Saudi royal talked about in Riyadh may be known
only to them, but after the meeting, Crown Prince Mohammed told confidants
that Kushner had discussed the names of Saudis disloyal to the crown prince,
according to three sources who have been in contact with members of the
Saudi and Emirati royal families since the crackdown. Kushner, through his
attorney’s spokesperson, denies having done so.
“Some questions by the media are so obviously false and ridiculous that they
merit no response. This is one. The Intercept should know better,” said
Peter Mirijanian, a spokesperson for Kushner’s lawyer Abbe Lowell.
On November 4, a week after Kushner returned to the U.S., the crown prince,
known in official Washington by his initials MBS, launched what he called an
anti-corruption crackdown. The Saudi government arrested dozens of members
of the Saudi royal family and imprisoned them in the Ritz-Carlton Riyadh,
which was first reported in English by The Intercept. The Saudi figures
named in the President’s Daily Brief were among those rounded up; at least
one was reportedly tortured.
The Saudi Embassy did not respond to questions from The Intercept. The White
House referred questions to National Security Council spokesperson Michael
Anton. Anton declined to comment, referring questions on Kushner’s
discussions with MBS to Lowell.
It is likely that Crown Prince Mohammed would have known who his critics
were without Kushner mentioning them, a U.S. government official who
declined to be identified pointed out. The crown prince may also have had
his own reasons for saying that Kushner shared information with him, even if
that wasn’t true. Just the appearance that Kushner did so would send a
powerful message to the crown prince’s allies and enemies that his actions
were backed by the U.S. government.
One of the people MBS told about the discussion with Kushner was UAE Crown
Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, according to a source who talks frequently to
confidants of the Saudi and Emirati rulers. MBS bragged to the Emirati crown
prince and others that Kushner was “in his pocket,” the source told The
Intercept.
Access to the President’s Daily Brief is tightly guarded, but Trump has the
legal authority to allow Kushner to disclose information contained in it. If
Kushner discussed names with MBS as an approved tactic of U.S. foreign
policy, the move would be a striking intervention by the U.S. into an
unfolding power struggle at the top levels of an allied nation. If Kushner
discussed the names with the Saudi prince without presidential
authorization, however, he may have violated federal laws around the sharing
of classified intelligence.
On November 6, two days after the detentions in the Ritz began, Trump took
to Twitter to defend the crackdown:
In the months that followed, the arrestees were coerced into signing over
billions in personal assets to the Saudi government. In December, the
London-based Arabic-language newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported that Maj.
Gen. Ali al-Qahtani had been tortured to death in the Ritz. Qahtani’s body
showed signs of mistreatment, including a neck that was “twisted unnaturally
as though it had been broken,” bruises, and “burn marks that appeared to be
from electric shocks,” the New York Times reported earlier this month.
Senior U.S. government officials have long worried about Kushner’s handling
of sensitive foreign policy issues given his lack of diplomatic experience.
They have also raised concerns about the possibility that foreign officials
might try to influence him through business deals with his family’s real
estate empire. Special Counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly examining
Kushner’s business ties as part of his ongoing probe.
The Washington Post reported this week that former Secretary of State Rex
Tillerson and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster “expressed early
concern that Kushner was freelancing U.S. foreign policy.” According to the
Post, Tillerson once asked staffers in frustration: “Who is the secretary of
state here?”
Indeed, Kushner has grown so close to the Saudi and Emirati crown princes
that he has communicated with them directly using WhatsApp, a reasonably
secure messaging app owned by Facebook and popular in the Middle East,
according to a senior Western official and a source close to the Saudi royal
family.
Asked about Kushner’s use of WhatsApp to communicate with foreign officials,
his attorney’s spokesperson Mirijanian said, “Without commenting on who he
talks with and how he does his work, Mr. Kushner is in conformity with the
Presidential Records Act and other rules.” Kushner’s attorneys have since
told him not to use the app for official business, according to a source
with direct knowledge of the exchange.
Kushner’s unconventional communications with regional leaders excluded
diplomats during the summer of 2017, when Saudi Arabia and the UAE initiated
an economic blockade aimed at weakening their Gulf neighbor Qatar.
Tillerson’s attempts to mediate the crisis were quickly undercut by Trump
and Kushner, who supported the blockade. Three State Department officials
told The Intercept that Tillerson was largely in the dark about Kushner’s
communications with MBS during that period.
In the wake of MBS’s crackdown in Saudi Arabia, the National Security
Council’s policy coordination committee suggested that Tillerson intervene
and try to reason with the crown prince, according to a former White House
official and a former State Department official. Tillerson declined, telling
colleagues doing so would be “pointless” given that Kushner was already in
close and direct contact with him.
The National Security Council’s Middle East adviser, retired U.S. Army Col.
Michael Bell, has also complained in recent months that he was out of the
loop on the Gulf crisis and the Arab-Israeli conflict, the former White
House official said. Bell has told colleagues that Kushner frequently
micromanaged those subjects through direct interaction with regional
leaders, without offering Bell any worthwhile readout on their
interactions.
Bell, speaking through National Security Council spokesperson Anton, denied
that Kushner has kept him out of the loop and said he respects Kushner’s
lead role in the region.
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 6: A Kushner Companies logo is visible near an entrance
to the Kushner Companies' flagship property 666 Fifth Avenue in Midtown
Manhattan, March 6, 2018 in New York City. Kushner Companies, run by the
family of White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, has been trying to raise
funds for their $1.2 billion dollar mortgage on the building that is due in
February 2019. The Kushners bought the property for $1.8 billion in 2006.
Many real estate analysts say that they Kushners vastly overpaid for the
property. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
A Kushner Companies logo is visible near an entrance to the Kushner
Companies’ flagship property 666 Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, March 6,
2018, in New York City.
Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Kushner’s support for Saudi Arabia and the UAE over Qatar in the Gulf crisis
has raised questions about a possible conflict of interest. Kushner backed
the blockade a month after Qatar’s ministry of finance rebuffed an attempt
by Kushner’s real estate firm, Kushner Companies, to extract financing for
the firm’s troubled flagship property at 666 Fifth Avenue.
In 2007, Kushner bought the landmark Manhattan building for $1.8 billion,
putting down $500 million in cash raised largely by selling thousands of
rental units the family had owned in New Jersey. It was widely regarded as
overpriced at the time, and when the financial crisis hit, the value
plummeted, wiping out much of the initial investment. The clock is now
ticking toward a February 2019 deadline when a major mortgage payment will
come due.
Since 2011, Kushner and his relatives have been searching the globe for a
new investor. As recently as the spring of 2017, Charles Kushner, Jared’s
father, asked former Qatari prime minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani
to invest in the building. Then in April 2017, Charles Kushner made a direct
pitch to the Qatari government through the country’s minister of finance.
Qatar rejected the deal as not financially viable. In May, Trump traveled to
Riyadh with Kushner, where the famous glowing orb photo was taken. In the
wake of the meeting, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and a handful of allied
countries announced the blockade of rival Qatar, accusing it of fomenting
terror. The crisis continues today.
“We could not understand why the Trump administration was so firmly taking
the Saudis’ side in this dispute between the Saudis, the Emiratis, and
Qatar, because the United States has very important interests in Qatar,”
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told George Stephanopoulos, host of ABC’s “This
Week,” after The Intercept reported on Kushner Companies’ efforts to obtain
financing from Qatar. Murphy was referring to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar,
home of U.S. Central Command, where thousands of U.S. troops are stationed.
“If the reason this administration put U.S. 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.
MBS is in Washington this week. On Tuesday, he was warmly received by Trump,
who told reporters that the U.S.-Saudi relationship is “probably the
strongest it’s ever been.”
Top photo: Mohammed bin Nayef and Mohammad bin Salman with Jared Kushner and
Ivanka Trump on May 20, 2017, at the Royal Court Palace in Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia.
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