Jared Kushner’s Conflicts of Interest

FRED WERTHEIMER’S WEEKLY NOTE | JUNE 28, 2018

“The American people are entitled to have public officials who do not create the appearance, if not the reality, of financial conflicts of interest, and who do not make use of their public office for private gain.”

Democracy 21 and CREW called on the Office of Government Ethics today to investigate whether Jared Kushner’s “extensive and ongoing” business interests, including by attribution those of his spouse Ivanka Trump, conflict with his official responsibilities as Senior Adviser to the President.

We asked OGE to investigate two areas of apparent conflicts of interest: Kushner’s financial ties in Israel and his White House responsibilities regarding Israel; and Ivanka Trump’s financial interests in China, attributed to Kushner under conflict of interest rules, and Kushner’s official responsibilities regarding China.

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are in unique if not unprecedented positions, as the son-in-law and daughter of President Trump, both holding important positions in the White House while they maintain extensive private business interests. In fact, according to recent reporting, the couple made $82M in outside income last year while working in the White House.

Kushner has extensive financial entanglements with Israel banks and companies. He has also been appointed by President Trump to play a lead role in U.S. efforts to broker peace in the Middle East. This requires Kushner to serve as an honest broker between Israel and the Palestinians, which is difficult to do credibly when he has financial ties to Israeli businesses.

Ivanka Trump’s business has dozens of trademarks in China. In May 2018, The New York Times reported that her business was awarded seven new trademarks in China. Meanwhile, Kushner’s White House responsibilities include foreign policy matters involving China.

The American people are entitled to have public officials who do not create the appearance, if not the reality, of financial conflicts of interest, and who do not make use of their public office for private gain.

These are well established standards for government service which Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are not meeting.

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Fred Wertheimer is the Founder and President of Democracy 21, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to strengthen our democracy and ensure the integrity and fairness of government decisions and elections.