Jared Kushner strikes again
“President” Donald J. Trump once again made false claims last week about the size of the Saudi Arabia arms deal when he talked about the economic benefits that would flow from Saudi Arabia, even amid his dismissal of credible reports from the CIA about Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman’s role in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Now we’re getting some answers as to why, and they involve his son-in-law.
ABC News is now reporting that a large force behind the lies and exaggerations is none other than Jared “the Joke” Kushner. According to the report: “Kushner, in a bid to symbolically solidify the new alliance between the Trump administration and Saudi Arabia while claiming a victory on the president’s first foreign trip to Riyadh, pushed State and Defense officials to inflate the figure with arms exchanges that were aspirational at best, the officials said.”
The reality is, like everything that comes from the Trump and Kushner families, much different. The actual purchases do not even meet the $15 billion that was identified as realistic at the time of the deal. And according to the report, the Saudis missed the deadline on the biggest purchase to date.
In the meantime, Jamal Khashoggi is dead and Trump will do nothing about it, because of the huge deal with Saudi Arabia that is as much a mirage as someone seeing an oasis in the middle of the desert while dying of thirst. It is not real. What should be determined is what deals Trump and Kushner have personally with the Saudis, and how beholden they are to the royal family.
Daniel is a lawyer writing and teaching about SCOTUS, and is the author of the book “The Chief Justices” about the SCOTUS as seen through the center seat.