{"id":2891,"date":"2026-10-04T04:48:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T04:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/firearmgiveawayfinder.com\/?p=2891"},"modified":"2026-10-04T04:48:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T04:48:15","slug":"does-jared-kushner-know-what-a-conflict-of-interest-is-mother-jones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/firearmgiveawayfinder.com\/?p=2891","title":{"rendered":"Does Jared Kushner Know What a Conflict of Interest Is? \u2013 Mother Jones"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Jared Kushner speaks during a Board of Peace open session in New York on September 23, 2026.<\/span>Charly Triballeau\/AFP\/Getty<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Get your news from a source that\u2019s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily<\/em>.<\/a><\/div>\n

CNN published<\/span> an investigation earlier this week<\/a> detailing how an investment fund operated by Jared Kushner, who has acted as a key Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiator and leader on Trump\u2019s Gaza \u201cBoard of Peace,\u201d also holds the largest stake in an Israeli financial institution that backs arms manufacturers involved in Israel\u2019s bombardment of Gaza\u2014one of many financial entanglements author Casey Michel highlighted<\/a> in a Mother Jones<\/em> cover story in July.<\/p>\n

In a rare move, Kushner took to social media Friday to characterize CNN\u2019s reporting as \u201cdeeply misleading.\u201d<\/p>\n

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CNN published a deeply misleading story and headline suggesting that my diplomatic work in the Middle East somehow benefited investments in Israeli defense companies.<\/p>\n

But CNN\u2019s own reporting says otherwise. Buried behind a paywall, it acknowledges: \u201cCNN found no indication that\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/iCowrE9N84<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Jared Kushner (@jaredkushner) October 2, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The CNN reporters did acknowledge that they \u201cfound no indication that Kushner\u2019s actions as a diplomat\u201d directly affected his investment portfolio. But they laid out how Kushner\u2019s private equity company ended up with a 7.4 percent stake in an Israeli firm linked to nine different weapons contractors.<\/p>\n

Kushner\u2019s company, Affinity Partners, doubled its stake in the firm, Phoenix Financial, last year\u2014just before Donald Trump returned to office. As Michel wrote for Mother Jones<\/em>, \u201cPhoenix is a bulwark for Israeli expansion in the Palestinian territories and Syria, enabling more building, construction, and imperialism.\u201d<\/p>\n

CNN\u2019s report digs into the details of Phoenix\u2019s investments in Israeli weapons-makers. Most notably, Phoenix has hundreds of millions of dollars in Elbit Systems, Israel\u2019s largest military equipment provider, known for unmanned aerial vehicles that are deployed extensively for surveillance and bombardment in Gaza. Phoenix also, according to CNN,<\/a> has holdings in Israeli jet-engine maker Bet Shemesh, drone-camera maker Next Vision, munitions company Reshef Technologies, and Boeing, which supplies Israel\u2019s military with F-15s and bunker-buster bombs.<\/p>\n

In his post, Kushner protested, \u201cPhoenix is not a defense company. It is one of Israel\u2019s largest publicly traded financial institutions, highly regulated and managing approximately $220 billion across thousands of investments.\u201d <\/p>\n

Nonetheless, Phoenix manages large investments in weapons companies close to the conflict, even as Kushner touts a $2.4 billion dollar \u201crecovery plan\u201d for Gaza<\/a> geared toward turning the area into a tourist hub. Israel continues to bomb Gaza\u2014despite having agreed to a ceasefire 11 months ago\u2014killing more than 1,300 people<\/a> since that agreement was signed.<\/p>\n

Kushner has responded to past reporting on his conflicts of interest by saying, essentially, that putting himself in a position to make money off his diplomatic work doesn\u2019t count as a conflict of interest unless he actually makes money. But while serving as a diplomat, he has indeed been making money; in September 2025, Forbes declared Kushner a billionaire, noting that his fortune had grown by about $100 million<\/a> from a year earlier.<\/p>\n

Israel represents just one of Kushner\u2019s numerous global conflicts of interest. While engaged in attempts to negotiate peace with Iran, he was also soliciting investments from officials of Persian Gulf states with a stake in the outcome. Kushner was also tapped to negotiate an end to Russia\u2019s war with Ukraine, despite his ties to prominent Russian officials. And as the lead story in today\u2019s New York Times<\/em><\/a> revealed, the Trump administration\u2019s talks with Russia about ending the war in Ukraine now involve \u201ca multibillion-dollar oil deal that would benefit Middle Eastern business executives with ties to the two main U.S. negotiators, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2025, CBS\u2019 \u201c60 Minutes\u201d asked Kushner and Witkoff, his fellow \u201cspecial envoy,\u201d whether their \u201cbillions and billions of dollars worth of business\u201d deals with the Gulf States, some of which they\u2019d negotiated while brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Qatar, might constitute conflicts of interest<\/a>. Kushner seemed to think he was in the clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re here to do good,\u201d Kushner responded. \u201cThese are impossible tasks.\u201d He stated that he would not be personally involved in deciding who does business in Gaza after the ceasefire deal is signed. \u201cWhat people call conflicts of interest,\u201d Kushner said, \u201cSteve and I call experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n