Quotables
Jared Kushner's rise to the White House has apparently been terrible for his family's business
"It was sweet redemption for Charles Kushner last year when his son Jared was named senior White House adviser," The New York Times reports. The elder Kushner had pleaded guilty in 2004 to federal charges stemming from a scheme to entrap his brother-in-law using a prostitute, then served two years "making wallets at a prison camp in Alabama," but his hopes for redemption, even a pardon, due to his son's relationship to President Trump have not panned out, the Times adds. "For the patriarch and his family, the pinnacle of American political power has turned out to be a wellspring of trouble."
The Times runs down some of the Kushner family's "criminal and regulatory inquiries largely rooted in their newfound access to presidential power."
The family's East Coast-based real estate empire is under a fiscal and ethical cloud, shunned by some investors who fear being dragged into the spotlight trained on the Kushner nexus with President Trump. Two major Manhattan properties are on creditors' watch lists, one after foreign investors backed out of a financing deal. [The New York Times]
Jared Kushner's sister, Nicole Kushner Meyer, 34, is under investigation over whether her business pitch to Chinese investors constituted misuse of a visa program for high-dollar investors, and 32-year-old Josh Kushner has reportedly upset his older brother because "has made no secret of the fact that he did not vote for Mr. Trump" and has criticized the Trump administration. Charles Kushner, in an interview with the Times, says business is great and his family is united. You can read more about his rosy outlook and where it may diverge from reality at The New York Times.