Democrats want subpoena on Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner's Saudi dealings

A group of US House Democrats are pushing for a subpoena on former president Donald Trump's son-in-law and Middle East advisor Jared Kushner.

This week, Representative Jamie Raskin - ranking member on the House Oversight Committee - sent a letter to the chairman James Comer about Kushner's work with Affinity Partners, a Saudi-backed private equity firm that Kushner founded around six months after his White House position under Trump ended.

The letter noted that Kushner received substantial investments from Gulf monarchies, including $2 billion from Saudi Arabia.

Raskin's letter urges Comer to release the investment documents due to Kushner's apparent continued lack of transparency.

"I am encouraged by your recent acknowledgement that ;what Kushner did crossed the line of ethics' and your repeated assertions that our Committee is ‘investigating foreign nationals’ attempts to target and coerce high-ranking US officials’ family members by providing money or other benefits in exchange for certain actions.'" wrote Raskin in his letter to Comer.

"In light of these concerns, I urge you to pursue a serious and objective investigation by issuing a subpoena to Affinity and requiring the firm to comply with my February 15, 2023, request for documents regarding its receipt of billions of dollars from Gulf monarchies shortly after Mr. Kushner left a senior White House position he used to reshape U.S. foreign policy toward Saudi Arabia and the Middle East in Saudi Arabia’s favor—a request you have thus far allowed Mr. Kushner to ignore and defy," the letter continued.

Comer recently appeared on CNN, where he said that Kushner had "crossed the line of ethics" by accepting $2 billion for his private investment firm from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund that is chaired by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Democrats see this as a larger pattern by Kushner.

An article by The Intercept during the Trump administration reported that the Saudi prince bragged about having Kushner "in his pocket". The Intercept also noted that Kushner was involved in a $110 million weapons sale to Saudi Arabia in 2017.

This recent letter comes after repeated attempts by Democrats to have Kushner's documents on the matter released.