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发帖数: 4796 | 1 White House adviser’s business arrangements were considered
Officials in at least four countries have privately discussed ways they can
manipulate Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, by
taking advantage of his complex business arrangements, financial
difficulties and lack of foreign policy experience, according to current and
former U.S. officials familiar with intelligence reports on the matter.
Among those nations discussing ways to influence Kushner to their advantage
were the United Arab Emirates, China, Israel and Mexico, the current and
former officials said.
Security clearances downgraded for Kushner and other White House officials
It is unclear if any of those countries acted on the discussions, but
Kushner’s contacts with certain foreign government officials have raised
concerns inside the White House and are a reason he has been unable to
obtain a permanent security clearance, the officials said.
Kushner’s interim security clearance was downgraded last week from the top-
secret to the secret level, which should restrict the regular access he has
had to highly classified information, according to administration officials.
H.R. McMaster, President Trump’s national security adviser, learned that
Kushner had contacts with foreign officials that he did not coordinate
through the National Security Council or officially report. The issue of
foreign officials talking about their meetings with Kushner and their
perceptions of his vulnerabilities was a subject raised in McMaster’s daily
intelligence briefings, according to the current and former officials, who
spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
Within the White House, Kushner’s lack of government experience and his
business debt were seen from the beginning of his tenure as potential points
of leverage that foreign governments could use to influence him, the
current and former officials said.
They could also have legal implications. Special counsel Robert S. Mueller
III has asked people about the protocols Kushner used when he set up
conversations with foreign leaders, according to a former U.S. official.
Officials in the White House were concerned that Kushner was “naive
and being tricked” in conversations with foreign officials, some of whom
said they wanted to deal only with Kushner directly and not more experienced
personnel, said one former White House official.
Kushner has an unusually complex set of business arrangements and foreign
entanglements for a senior White House aide, experts have said. But his
behavior while in office has drawn more scrutiny and raised concerns that he
would be unable to obtain a final security clearance, which he needs to
perform the many jobs Trump has entrusted to him, from negotiating foreign
trade deals to overseeing a Middle East peace process.
“We will not respond substantively to unnamed sources peddling second-hand
hearsay with rank speculation that continue to leak inaccurate information,
” said Peter Mirijanian, a spokesman for Kushner’s lawyer.
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White House officials said McMaster was taken aback by some of Kushner’s
foreign contacts.
“When he learned about it, it surprised him,” one official said. “He
thought that was weird. . . . It was an unusual thing. I don’t know that
any White House has done it this way before.”
The official said that McMaster was “not concerned but wanted an
explanation. It seemed unusual to him.”
In the months since, McMaster and Kushner have worked to coordinate so that
the National Security Council is aware of Kushner’s contacts with foreign
officials and so Kushner has access to the council’s country experts to
prepare for meetings.
“General McMaster has the highest regard for Mr. Kushner, and the two work
well together,” said council spokesman Michael Anton. “Everything they do
is integrated . . . it’s seamless.”
Foreign governments routinely discuss ways they can influence senior
officials in all administrations.
“Every country will seek to find their point of leverage,” said one person
familiar with intelligence intercepts of foreign officials discussing
Kushner.
But Kushner came to his position with an unusually complex set of business
holdings and a family company facing significant debt issues.
A Mexican diplomatic source said that Kushner “has remained strictly
professional” in his dealings with the country, “with both sides
looking after their interests but trying to find common ground.”
Officials from the UAE identified Kushner as early as the spring of 2017 as
particularly manipulable because of his family’s search for investors in
their real estate company, current and former officials said.
Officials at the embassies of China, Israel and the UAE did not respond to
requests for comment.
Kushner’s lack of a final security clearance has drawn scrutiny in recent
weeks. He had an interim clearance that gave him access to information at
the top-secret level, as well as more highly classified information, such as
the president’s daily intelligence briefing. But the application for his
final clearance dragged on for more than a year. The downgrading of his
interim clearance from top secret to secret was first reported by Politico.
On Feb. 9, Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein alerted White House
Counsel Don McGahn that significant issues would further delay Kushner’s
security clearance process, according to four people familiar with their
discussions.
Kushner has repeatedly amended a form detailing his contacts with foreign
persons. Not fully disclosing foreign contacts ordinarily would result in a
clearance being denied, experts said.
On Friday, Trump said White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly would make a
final decision on whether Kushner would continue to have a security
clearance.
In 2016, Kushner was simultaneously running his family business, Kushner Cos
., and helping to oversee Trump’s campaign. One of his top business
concerns was what to do with his family’s investment in 666 Fifth Ave. in
New York, which the company bought under his direction for $1.8 billion in
2007, the highest price paid at the time for a U.S. office tower. The
purchase became troubled as the Great Recession hit, and Kushner refinanced
it, leaving the company with a $1.2 billion debt that comes due in January
2019.
The Manhattan property has been a particularly nettlesome problem inside the
government because Kushner’s company has sought foreign money on the
project.
Kushner and his company had proposed a redevelopment plan that would double
the building’s size, requiring major new investment. Before Trump took
office, Kushner and other company officials explored several options for the
financing. They met with an executive of a Chinese-run insurance company,
Anbang, which had bought the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. They also discussed a
possible investment by the former finance minister of Qatar, who oversaw an
investment fund. But after Kushner served as Trump’s senior adviser for a
few months in the White House, questions arose about potential conflicts of
interest, the financing talks ended, and neither Anbang nor the Qatari fund
signed on.
Thomas Barrack, a close Trump friend who asked the Qataris to consider
investing in the Fifth Avenue property, has told The Washington Post that
the refinancing efforts were “crushed” because Kushner’s move to the
White House “just about completely chilled the market, and [potential
investors] just said, ‘No way — can’t be associated with any appearances
of conflict of interest,’ even though there was none.”
Questions have also been raised about whether Kushner discussed financing
with a Russian banker. He met in December 2016 with Sergey Gorkov, the top
executive of Vnesheconombank. The bank has said they talked about “
promising business lines and sectors,” but Kushner told Congress that the
meeting did not involve any discussion about his family’s company.
Kushner, upon entering the White House, divested his stake, which is now
controlled by family members. With the deadline for the $1.2 billion debt
looming, the company has continued to search for a lender. The redevelopment
plan appears to be on hold after the company’s main partner, Vornado, run
by Trump friend Steve Roth, deemed it “not feasible.”
Kushner’s father, Charles Kushner, who plays a major role at the company,
told The Post in a recent interview that he and the firm have not been
contacted by Mueller. The company, which is privately held, has stressed
that the Fifth Avenue property is a small fraction of its assets and that it
is doing well financially.
Michael Kranish contributed to this report.
Shane Harris covers intelligence and national security for the Post.
Carol Leonnig is an investigative reporter at The Washington Post.
Greg Jaffe is a national security reporter for The Washington Post, where he
has been since March 2009. Previously, he covered the White House and the
military for The Post.
Josh Dawsey is a White House reporter for The Washington Post. He joined the
paper in 2017. He previously covered the White House for Politico, and New
York City Hall and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for the Wall Street
Journal.
Democracy Dies in Darkness
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