Rachel Maddow slammed Donald Trump’s son-in-law and advisor Jared Kushner for using his White House position to essentially funnel cash into his private companies.
The MSNBC host zeroed in on ” the bottom line” of the stunning New York Times report, which is that Kushner’s “business interests not only aren’t over,” but the aspects of his companies that he is “actively invested” have received “remarkably large cash infusions” from people who have met with him at the White House.
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Rachel Maddow Rips Into Jared Kushner For Using WH Position To Funnel Cash Into His Companies #Maddow pic.twitter.com/NpsD2WUEt9
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— Sean Colarossi (@SeanColarossi) March 1, 2018
Maddow broke it down in simple terms:
I’ve just summarized what I see as the bottom line here which is that Mr. Kushner’s business interests not only aren’t over but business interests in which he is actively invested, where he is getting a personal benefit, have received notable, and in some cases remarkably large cash infusions from people who have had dealings with him as a White House official.
Jesse Drucker, a New York Times reporter who contributed to the bombshell report, also explained to Maddow that Kushner is still very much involved in his private companies even after taking a high-level job in the White House.
Drucker said: “When Jared Kushner joined the White House a little over a year ago, he quit his job as Chief Executive Officer of Kushner Companies, but for the most part, he held onto his ownership stake in Kushner Companies. He divested some small portions of his stake in the company, basically selling them to a trust controlled by his mother. But for the most part, he held onto most of the stake in the company.”
Kushner’s companies received over $500 million from businesses that met at the White House
As I noted a short time ago, Kushner’s family company received a combined $509 million from businesses that met with him at the White House. Whether these loans were meant to win influence over Trump administration policy remains to be seen, but it should still raise red flags.
As MSNBC’s Chris Hayes also noted on Wednesday, Kushner’s companies are “cash-starved” and desperate to find creditors. Not only is the timing of the loans concerning, but so too is the unusually large amount that was given.
One of the loans made by Apollo Global Management “was triple the size of the average property loan” by the company’s lending arm, The New York Times noted.
As Robert Mueller’s investigation continues to focus on Jared Kushner, the Trump son-in-law was already up to his eyeballs in legal trouble. The revelations reported by the Times on Wednesday add another layer of corruption to a White House already drowning in it.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
