A Democratic congresswoman from Arizona has taken direct aim at Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump‘s son-in-law, accusing him of putting his own financial interests ahead of the United States while serving as a key figure in some of the most sensitive foreign policy negotiations of the current administration.
Rep. Yassamin Ansari, who represents Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District, delivered a pointed floor speech this week calling out what she described as open corruption at the highest levels of the Trump White House. Ansari is the first Iranian-American Democrat ever elected to Congress, which gives her remarks on the ongoing U.S. conflict with Iran a particular weight.
She argued that Kushner, a private citizen with no official government title, has been deeply involved in shaping American foreign policy in the Middle East, including negotiations tied to the war with Iran, while at the same time running a private investment firm that takes in billions of dollars from the very same foreign governments involved in those talks.
Kushner’s business interests collide with his role as Donald Trump’s global envoy
In her speech on the House floor, Ansari said Kushner was “shaping U.S. foreign policy while simultaneously building relationships with foreign leaders that would later become financially valuable to him.” She also vowed that when Democrats take back the House, “Kushner will come under oath and testify,” and called the broader situation the “largest corruption scandal ever seen in the United States.”
Kushner founded Affinity Partners, a private equity firm, in 2021 after leaving the Trump White House. According to the BBC, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which is controlled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, invested $2 billion in the firm shortly after Kushner’s first stint in government ended.
According to calculations by Democratic staff of the Senate Finance Committee and the House Oversight Committee, Kushner has collected more than $110 million in management fees from the Saudi government alone since that time. His firm now manages around $6.16 billion in total assets, with roughly 99 percent of that money coming from foreign sources, including sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar.
At the same time, Kushner has been serving as one of Trump’s top international envoys, officially appointed as “Special Envoy for Peace” in 2026. He has been at the table for talks involving Gaza, Ukraine, and most recently, the U.S. conflict with Iran.
Kushner was also involved in negotiations between the U.S., Ukraine, and Russia, though those efforts have faced heavy scrutiny as well. In February 2026, he and fellow envoy Steve Witkoff met with Iranian officials in Geneva in what was described as a last-ditch effort to avoid war.
Those talks fell apart. The U.S. and Israel then launched a joint military operation against Iran on February 28, 2026, known as Operation Epic Fury. A Gulf diplomat later told The Guardian that Kushner and Witkoff acted like “Israeli assets” and engaged in “unorthodox and destructive diplomacy” that pushed Trump into the conflict.
The New York Times then reported that Kushner was simultaneously trying to raise an additional $5 billion for Affinity Partners from the same foreign governments he was negotiating with on behalf of the U.S. That report set off a fresh wave of outrage from Democrats. Iran had also refused to continue negotiating with Kushner, with Tehran preferring to deal with Vice President JD Vance instead.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, launched a formal investigation into Kushner on April 17, 2026. In a letter sent directly to Kushner, Raskin wrote that his dual roles create “a glaring and incurable conflict of interest.” Raskin also pointed out that Saudi Arabia, which wants the Iran war to continue, holds enormous financial leverage over Kushner because of their investment in his firm. He asked Kushner bluntly: “To whom do your professional obligations and fiduciary duties belong?”
Kushner’s side has pushed back. Ian Brekke, the chief legal officer for Affinity Partners, said Kushner “has complied with all applicable laws and requirements and has always operated in the best interests of the United States.” The White House also defended him, with spokesperson Anna Kelly saying Kushner had “sacrificed time with his family and livelihood” to serve. Brekke added that Affinity does not intend to take in new capital “while Jared is volunteering for the government.”
Ansari and other Democrats are not satisfied with those answers. The investigations are ongoing, and the question of whether a private citizen can simultaneously fundraise from foreign governments while negotiating American foreign policy with those same governments is now front and center in Washington.
Published: Apr 22, 2026 05:41 am