Jared Kushner criticized Vanity Fair for publishing an excerpt from an upcoming book alleging he had access to secret Middle East bank accounts.
President Trump’s son-in-law denounced the magazine on Thursday, dubbing the book’s mention of secret bank accounts tied to Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as “outrageous and categorically false allegations.”
The excerpt comes from “Princes and Thieves: Jared Kushner and Mohammed bin Zayed’s Secret Plot to Remake the Middle East” by Matthew Cole.
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Vanity Fair published the excerpt alleging that foreign intelligence services hacked Mr. Kushner’s phone and found he had access to a secret UAE bank account.
Mr. Cole alleges that Saudi Arabia and the UAE put about $750 million into the account starting in 2017 and that Mr. Kushner, then a senior White House adviser, was a signatory. The UAE ruler also allegedly moved about $1 billion to Israel for Mr. Kushner by spring 2018.
“The allegations made by this author are completely insane and never happened. We denied every one of these claims on the record, yet the author failed to provide a single shred of evidence to substantiate any of them,” Mr. Kushner said on social media. “No bank statements, wire transfer records, account numbers, transaction dates, or other verifiable details were provided to support these extraordinary accusations.”
Mr. Kushner said he voluntarily cooperated with investigations, adding that he provided over 30 hours of testimony.
“None of these allegations ever surfaced, because none of these events ever happened,” he said.
A source who allegedly knew of the UAE’s arrangement told Mr. Cole that Mr. Kushner promised the UAE president he would “push their agenda with Trump if they participated in a fund.”
“Regardless of whether he was a signatory or the owner, Jared was required by federal government regulations and the Internal Revenue Service to disclose his access to the account,” Mr. Cole writes. “Unless disclosed to and approved by the U.S. government and reported on his tax returns, Kushner’s access to the [UAE] account may have violated U.S. law.”
A lawyer for Mr. Kushner said he had no knowledge of or connection to a UAE bank account and complied with all legal requirements when dealing with foreign governments, according to the excerpt.
“This is not journalism. It is a mixture of fantasy, fiction and advocacy, written by someone who is either deeply disturbed or acting with sinister intent,” he said.
House Democrats have opened investigations into alleged conflicts of interest between Mr. Kushner’s role as special envoy for peace and his private equity firm, Affinity Partners.
The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington also sued this month to block him from the role because he has not been confirmed by the Senate.
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