The First Oversight Hearing a Democratic Congress Should Hold
Julie Roginsky
If Democrats win back either chamber of Congress, they should put Jared Kushner under oath immediately.
Kushner is not the only scandal. There are, of course, many other fires to put out, from what Donald Trump has done with health care, tariffs, immigration, and politicized prosecutions to the courts, DOGE, and voting rights. But Kushner should go first because he is the clearest, most nauseating example of what this administration is. He is the business model that underscores how pursuit of the almighty dollar has impacted every single policy decision it has taken.
Affinity Partners, Kushner’s investment firm, saw assets under management jump to $4.8 billion by the end of 2024 after it secured new money from Middle Eastern investors, including Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund and Abu Dhabi-based Lunate. Shortly after he left the White House at the end of his father-in-law’s first term, the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund handed $2 billion to Affinity, despite the trepidation of its investment professionals — who were overruled by the Kingdom’s de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman. (He of the hacksaw.) Kushner is Affinity’s sole owner.
Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi are three Gulf power centers with enormous business before the United States. They care about Iran, Gaza, oil, weapons, sanctions, shipping lanes, security guarantees, and American silence on human rights. These are not passive investors in an index fund. They are foreign governments and state-linked vehicles buying proximity to the president’s family.
https://saltypolitics.substack.com/p/the-first-oversight-hearing-a-democratic