Jared Kushner threatened to sue Vanity Fair for publishing an excerpt of a forthcoming book describing how the president’s son-in-law oversaw foreign slush funds filled by the leaders of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
In the new book Princes and Thieves: Jared Kushner and Mohamed bin Zayed’s Secret Plot to Remake the Middle East, author Matthew Cole revealed that Kushner oversaw roughly $2 billion in secret foreign bank accounts filled by the Saudis and Emiratis.
In a post on X Thursday, Kushner claimed the allegations were “completely insane and never happened.”
“These are outrageous fabrications being presented as investigative journalism. 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 wrote.
Kushner’s lawyer, Chad Mizelle, also hit back at the Vanity Fair article on behalf of his client—and threatened to sue the publication.
“Before publication, we sent Simon & Schuster a detailed 13-page letter responding to and categorically denying the extraordinary allegations made against my client, Jared Kushner, and challenging the total absence of supporting evidence,” Mizelle wrote on X.
“Vanity Fair has now published an excerpt amplifying these false and defamatory allegations. We have seen no credible evidence substantiating any of these claims, and we question what independent verification Vanity Fair conducted before publishing them,” he wrote. “We intend to pursue legal action against those responsible and hold them accountable.”
In the 13-page letter, another of Kushner’s lawyers, Alejandro Brito, insisted that Kushner had “no knowledge of, or involvement with, any such accounts.”
“Any allegation that Mr. Kushner knew of, had access to, had authorizations for or engaged in or directed any conduct related to any government-funded or government-linked bank account is totally false and defamatory,” the letter stated.
Speaking to reporters Friday, Donald Trump denied the potentially damning story about his son-in-law. “It’s a false story. It’s a false story. It’s a totally false story. It was totally an incorrect story. It was just fake news. Amazing,” Trump said.
The allegations contained in Cole’s book carry considerable legal weight. In 2017, Kushner was a government employee who worked in the White House, meaning he was required to submit both public and confidential financial forms and disclose any bank account to which he had access as a signatory or beneficiary. Kushner also failed to disclose himself as an agent of a foreign government, having been paid nearly $2 billion in total by foreign leaders. If he offered anything in return for the money, even just conversations with his father-in-law, then he would have violated U.S. bribery laws and the foreign agent statute.