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US probe looking at Kushner foreign business contacts: report
WASHINGTON, Feb 20, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Special counsel Robert Mueller is
probing Jared Kushner’s efforts to get foreign investors beyond Russia to
provide financing for his company during the presidential transition,
including in China, CNN reported Monday.
The probe was previously only said to have focused on the Russia contacts
of President Donald Trump’s senior adviser and son in law, only with the
campaign’s data analytics and Kushner’s ties with disgraced ex-national
security adviser Michael Flynn.
Mueller’s team is probing Kushner’s conversations during the presidential
transition to get financing for the Kushner Companies-backed 666 Fifth Avenue
office building in New York after financial setbacks, CNN said, citing people
familiar with the investigation.
Kushner’s father founded the real estate developer and lender.
CNN said Mueller’s investigators have yet to contact Kushner Companies or
request interviews with its executives, and the reasons behind the focus on
the outreach to foreign investors are unclear.
Kushner played a leading role in the presidential transition team’s
contacts with foreign governments, and has indicated he spoke during that
time with more than 50 contacts from over 15 countries.
One week after Trump’s November 8, 2016 election, Kushner met with the
chairman and other executives from the Chinese group Anbang Insurance, The
New York Times has reported.
Kushner and Anbang chairman Wu Xiaohui were close to finishing a deal for
the Chinese conglomerate to invest in 666 Fifth Avenue.
But the talks broke down, the Times said.
Other business dealings targeted by Mueller include negotiations on the
same property with Qatar’s former prime minister Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani,
according to The Intercept. But that deal also failed.
Kushner purchased the building in 2007 for $1.8 billion in a mostly debt
deal, but the housing crisis triggered financial setbacks for 666 Fifth
Avenue, leading Vornado Realty Trust to take a 49.5 percent stake in 2011.
“In all of Mr Kushner’s extensive cooperation with all inquiries, there has
not been a single question asked nor document sought on the 666 building or
Kushner Co. deals,” Kushner attorney Abbe Lowell told CNN.
“Nor would there be any reason to question these regular business
transactions.”
Kushner also met Sergey Gorkov, chairman of Russian state-run
Vnesheconombank, during the transition, but he testified in Congress that the
meeting was only for official government purposes.
However, the bank has said the talks were part of a series of business
meetings. And The Washington Post has reported that Mueller is probing that
meeting as well.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0856 hrs