Near the end of 2022, not long before
the results of that year’s congressional elections gave Republicans their
ultra-narrow House majority, Maloney and Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, then and now
Senate Finance Committee chair, sent letters to the Defense and State
Departments requesting they disclose to their committees records related to the
role White House–based Kushner had played in making U.S. foreign policy at a
time when a Kushner family business was seeking a bailout from foreign
governments that the legislators said were seeking to influence the Trump administration.
The letters sought documentation related to efforts by Jared and his
father, Charles Kushner, who once served a prison term for tax evasion, to
secure a financial bailout for New York office building 666 Fifth Avenue.
In a December 6, 2022, letter to
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Wyden and Maloney alleged that in August
2018, a company called Brookfield Asset Management leased the entire 666 Fifth Avenue
property from the Kushner Companies for a reported advance payment of $1.1
billion, supposedly covering 99 years’ worth of rent. “This bailout allowed
Kushner Companies to avoid an impending default on the property’s mortgage and
retain full ownership of the property,” the letter alleged, adding that even
after he joined Trump’s White House staff, Kushner had “retained a
substantial stake” in Kushner companies, which his father continued to
run.
The legislators alleged that Kushner’s
“direct involvement in U.S. policy towards Qatar before and after Brookfield’s
bailout of 666 Fifth Avenue” created the appearance “that he had used his
influence as Senior White House Advisor for personal gain.” Citing public
reporting, Wyden and Maloney said Kushner companies had “approached Qatar
multiple times” about investing in 666 Fifth Avenue, but Qatar initially
declined. Not long after Qatar’s initial refusal to invest in the property,
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates instituted what the legislators
described as a “punishing blockade” against Qatar. Wyden and Maloney said
top Qatari officials reportedly believe that initial support by the Trump White
House for the blockade “may have been retaliation by Mr. Kushner for the Qatari
government’s initial refusal to bail out 666 Fifth Avenue.”