Kushner pushes back on report involving phone, spies, transfer
Jared Kushner is pushing back on a report involving a hacked iPhone, international spies and billion-dollar transfers from foreign governments. An upcoming book by journalist Matthew Cole claims Kushner, who is President Trump's son-in-law, had access to more than $2 billion in "slush money funds" from Middle Eastern leaders in an attempt to influence U.S. foreign policy.
An excerpt of the book released Thursday details allegations encompassing Kushner's time as a senior White House adviser during the first Trump administration, which included a lead role in U.S. policy in the Middle East. Kushner had a major hand in negotiating key foreign policy deals that involved Israel, the Gulf states, China and Russia during that period.
Kushner and his legal team released fiery statements Thursday night categorically denying all accusations against him. Kushner said, "The allegations made by this author are completely insane and never happened." His attorney called them "false and defamatory" and said they intend to pursue legal action against those responsible, but did not specify whom.
The new book, "Princes and Thieves: Jared Kushner and Mohamed bin Zayed's Secret Plot to Remake the Middle East," alleges Kushner had access to billions of dollars in undisclosed foreign bank accounts intended to pay for "influence within the U.S. government." An excerpt from the book that was published in "Vanity Fair," but not independently verified by CBS News, says Dutch intelligence agents learned the Russians had hacked Kushner's iPhone in 2017 after flipping a Russian spy and subsequently gained access to Kushner's phone as well.
According to the report, "when Kushner used the phone, they could see his screen. Almost as soon as they got inside, the intelligence service began capturing every image of Kushner's screen as he used it." At the time, Kushner served as a senior White House adviser to President Trump, including on Middle Eastern diplomacy.
The report alleges Dutch spies witnessed him log into a United Arab Emirates account that had allegedly received hundreds of millions of dollars from a bank in Azerbaijan, and claims the leaders of Saudi Arabia and the UAE put at least $2 billion into multiple bank accounts linked to Kushner, including an account with Israel's Central Bank.
According to the book excerpt, the owners and managers of the accounts were often disguised as official government entities or charities, but the funds were actually intended for "off-the-books diplomatic objectives" such as striking a deal to end the Israeli-Palesteinian conflict. The report also claims Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman put roughly $1 billion into at least one account for Kushner, citing a "person with knowledge of the money" saying "its allocation was for Kushner's personal benefit."
Kushner forcefully denied the accusations leveled in the "Vanity Fair" excerpt, writing in part, "The allegations made by this author are completely insane and never happened." "We denied every claim on the record, yet the author provided not a single shred of verifiable evidence to substantiate them," he said.
"No bank statements, wire transfer records, account numbers, transaction dates, or other verifiable details were provided to support these extraordinary accusations," he said. CBS News reached out to the White House, which referred us to a statement from Steven Cheung, who is assistant to the president and White House director of communications.
Cheung said the "bull**** Vanity Fair article comes from a book that is complete fiction, and was fabricated from the warped mind of failed spy thriller writer." "He presents no evidence or even a shred of documentation. Just mysterious words from unnamed sources," Cheung said on X. This article originally appeared on CBS News at https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jared-kushner-pushes-back-report-hacked-phone-spies-transfer/