Following Republicans’ investigation into the Bidens’ influence, Democrats are now demanding they subject Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to scrutiny over his foreign affairs deals.
Republicans have spent six months on Biden’s impeachment inquiry, digging into Joe’s ties to Hunter Biden’s shady business deals, and now appear unlikely to move forward with a vote in the House of Representatives.
And now Democrats are working on revenge after months of focus on the Biden family.
A new letter from top Democrat Jamie Raskin, D-Md., indicates Democrats are likely to put Kushner in their crosshairs if they take back the House of Representatives in the November elections.
“We are writing to urge you to convene a hearing on Jared Kushner’s apparent influence and quid pro quo deals involving investments in exchange for official actions, and to investigate the resulting threats to our national security, Raskin and Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., says the letter to top Republican James Comer, R-Ky.
Earlier this month, the New York Times reported that Kushner is closing in on lucrative real estate deals in Albania and Serbia.
The Balkan plans benefit from the relationships Kushner built during the Trump administration: they are being developed with Ric Grenell, who served under Trump as acting director of national intelligence and as ambassador to Germany and special envoy to the Balkans.
Following Republicans’ investigation of the Bidens to exert their influence, Democrats are now demanding they investigate Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, over his foreign affairs deals.
Democrats alleged that Kushner and Grenell “openly exploited their relationship with Edi Rama, the prime minister of Albania, from whom then-President Trump received unconstitutional payments while serving as commander in chief.”
Democrats alleged that Kushner and Grenell “openly exploited their relationship with Edi Rama, the prime minister of Albania, from whom then-President Trump received unconstitutional payments while serving as commander in chief.”
A Democratic report shows that Rama, his advisers and former Infrastructure Secretary Damian Gjiknuri spent about $6,000 to stay at the Trump hotel in DC, which was then owned by the former president.
One of the proposed projects would reportedly be the development of an island off the coast of Albania into a luxury tourist destination known as Sazan. The island was used as a secret military base for submarines during the Cold War.
Another example is a planned luxury hotel, 1,500 residential units and a museum in Belgrade, Serbia. It would be on the site of the former headquarters of the Yugoslav army, which was destroyed by NATO bombing in 1999, a lawmaker in Serbia and Kushner’s company told the Times.
Grenell worked on disputes between Serbia and Kosovo, in which Albania was often indirectly involved.
The projects concern land currently under government control, which means the state must sign off on the projects.
“This committee cannot claim to be ‘investigating attempts by foreign nationals to target and coerce family members of senior U.S. officials by providing money or other benefits in exchange for certain actions’ while continuing to ignore these matters,” the committee wrote. legislators.
A third project in Albania would involve the construction of several hotels and hundreds of villas on the Zvërnec Peninsula, a coastal area in southern Albania, part of the resort community known as Vlorë.
The Balkan plans capitalize on the relationships Kushner built during the Trump administration: They are being developed with Ric Grenell, who served under Trump as acting director of national intelligence and as ambassador to Germany and special envoy to the Balkans.
Albania is becoming one of the fastest growing tourist hotspots in Europe.
Kushner told the Times that the deals, through his investment firm Affinity Partners, have not yet been completed but are “pretty close.”
Kushner’s company has already faced criticism from Democrats for its $2 billion in financing from the Saudi Public Investment Fund.
Kushner was deeply involved in Trump’s Middle East policy during his presidency and took advantage of the relationships he developed during that time to broker the deals, including a close relationship with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia.
Grenell, meanwhile, is rumored to be going after the secretary of state job in a potential second Trump administration. He has been unapologetic about his attempts to use government relations to bring investment to Albania.
“We are looking for opportunities to invest through foreign investment in the Balkans, but more specifically in Albania, and the Albanian coast is beautiful,” Grenell said in an earlier interview with a Balkan newspaper.
Last year he insisted in a television interview in Albania that there was nothing wrong with such deals now that he is a private citizen.
Kushner and Grenell are interested in developing Sazan Island
Once communist Albania’s most secret military base, a ‘sentinel’ of the Adriatic Sea, the island of Sazan has opened its bunkers and tunnels to tourists amid wilderness that authorities hope to turn into an attraction
A third project in Albania would build several hotels and hundreds of villas on the Zvërnec Peninsula, a coastal area in southern Albania, part of the resort community known as Vlorë.
“I work on projects, private equity projects, where I can make money,” he said. “No one should ever have to apologize for wanting to make money.”
Comer told CNN last year that he would also be scrutinizing Kushner’s deals in addition to the Bidens.
“We’re going to ask some questions of Trump and some of his family members, including Jared Kushner,” he said. “We want to know exactly what the terms were of that loan ($2 billion Saudi Arabia) to Kushner.”
Republicans have pushed back on comparisons between Hunter Biden and his business deals and Kushner, arguing that Kushner has “a career as a businessman that predates Donald Trump’s political career.”
Last week, Raskin filed a motion during an impeachment hearing to subpoena Kushner for information about his investment firm.
Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan moved to table the motion — or kill it.
Jordan argued that Kushner had had a positive influence on foreign policy, including by helping to broker the Abraham Accords, or peace deals between Israel and Arab countries brokered during the Trump administration.