Jared Kushner's downfall: from golden boy to emperiled black sheep

First son-in-law Jared Kushner, once "the prince of Trump's Washington," according to the Washington Post trio of reporters (Philip Rucker, Ashley Parker, and Josh Dawsey), has had a disastrous February.   Citing "an unlikely cascade of events," they suggest that February 2018 "could mark the fall of the House of Kushner."

Based on interviews with 20 senior administration officials, congressional aides, and other advisers to the president, these reporters back up that prediction with the following:   "Kushner is now stripped of his access to the nation's deepest secrets, isolated and badly weakened inside the administration, under scrutiny for his mixing of business and governmental work and facing the possibility of grave legal peril in the Russia probe."

The article continues:  "Kushner's tensions with chief of staff John  F. Kelly have spilled into public view, while other dormant rivalries have resurfaced.   Some colleagues privately mock Kushner as a shadow of his former self, . . . [while] others said fear of the Russia probe has made some officials wary of interacting with Kushner on sensitive matters.   And his reputation as an interlocutor for foreign governments has been undermined by the lowering of his security clearance level, which generated embarrassing headlines worldwide."

The Trump White House should go down in the books as the prime example of why nepotism is a very bad idea.  Leon Panetta -- a former White House Chief of Staff, as well as former Secretary of Defense and CIA Director in Democratic administrations -- says:  "This was predictable from the get-go. . . . Under the best of circumstances, these are tough jobs.   But when you now add to that list family members who have no clear-cut role, no experience, no real understanding of the rules and a host of financial connections and business dealings that can obviously be used to manipulate you, then that is a prescription for the kind of chaos you're seeing in the White House" . . . .

"The Washington Post reported earlier this week that officials in at least four countries have privately discussed ways to manipulate Kushner through his myriad financial interests -- a factor in his inability to obtain a security clearance.  On a separate issue, the New York Times reported that Apollo, a private equity firm, and Citigroup loaned more than $500 million combined to the Kushner family real estate business, after executives of the firms attended meetings with Kushner at the White House."

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From Vox.com's Andrew Prokop's "Jared Kushner's Many Scandals Explained":

". . . . When Trump decided to name Kushner to a top White House job last year, Jared followed his father-in-law’s lead by doing the bare minimum to disentangle himself from his business interests. He stepped down from his official role at Kushner Companies but he kept most of his interest in it and his real estate holdings. . . .  Since then, there have been a seemingly endless array of reports about conflicts and questionable activity from either Jared or the Kushner Companies, which is privately held and has opaque finances.

"Much of this involves one Kushner investment in particular: the skyscraper at 666 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan . . . setting a new record for the highest price for a single real estate asset ever paid in the United States, and financing it almost entirely through debt near the peak of the housing bubble.

"Now, a $1.2 billion mortgage — half of which the Kushners are responsible for — is coming fully due in February 2019. They’ve paid off none of it and could be in danger of losing control of the building. . . . 

"The problem is evident: Kushner Companies needs a huge pile of money and they’re looking for it from foreign sources as Jared holds a foreign policy portfolio in the White House.

"But the problems don’t stop with one skyscraper."  There are also questionable loans obtained from people Jared met with in the White House.   There are questionable investors who are under scrutiny for potential bribery and money laundering.   And there are questionable business practices having to do with mismanagement of apartment complexes.

On top of all this, Jared himself is also under investigation by Robert Mueller concerning Russian interference in the 2016 election, including his meetings with the Russian ambassador and the head of a sanctioned Russian bank during the transition.    He discussed his own business interests with the Chinese ambassador in early 2017, and he has met with several foreign nationals without informing the National Security Council.

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And from Marcy Wheeler at the New York Times:

"The biggest concern . . . is that foreign countries would offer him [Kushner]  personal financial benefits in the same conversations in which he purports to represent America’s best interests. . . .  Such appearances of conflict might not, by themselves, get Mr. Kushner in trouble. . . .

"But Mr. Kushner might face more trouble to the extent he keeps such negotiations secret from those in charge of carrying out United States foreign policy. When the national security adviser, H. R. McMaster, learned of some of Mr. Kushner’s communications only after the fact . . . " he was not pleased, to say the least.

"That means he [Kushner] has conducted an entire year of foreign policy without officially disclosing all the personal interests he may have been serving.

"Finally, the risk might be greater still if Mr. Kushner negotiated such deals before Mr. Trump’s inauguration. That’s the possibility raised by Mr. Kushner’s pre-inauguration meetings with Russia. In December 2016, Mr. Kushner met with Sergey Gorkov, the head of a bank under American sanctions, Vnesheconombank. That meeting came after Mr. Kushner suggested a back channel of communications in a meeting with Russia’s ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, according to Mr. Kislyak" . . . .

"Perhaps Mr. Kushner is just a person who had no idea what he was doing and wanted to improve his and his family’s finances. Still, there are many reasons to question whether he has talked with foreign officials with the proper disclosures, designed to ensure that those claiming to represent the interests of the United States aren’t hiding their own interests or those of foreign governments.

"In pursuing his investigation into Russian tampering, Mr. Mueller appears to be doing something more: restoring the regulatory teeth to ensure that those engaging in American politics are doing what they publicly claim they are. If Mr. Mueller extends this effort to foreign policy, Mr. Kushner may be in real trouble."

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In appearance and demeanor, two men could hardly be more different than Donald Trump and Jared Kushner.   And yet . . . Jared seems every bit as cavalier about going his own way without regard for the rules or traditions -- or the obligations of a public servant to put the interests of the American people ahead of his own personal interests.

What a mess this whole clan has dumped on the White House and the American people.

Ralph