The Wooing of Jared Kushner: How the Saudis Got a Friend in the White House

[dalton99a]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/08/world/middleeast/saudi-mbs-jared-kushner.html

The Wooing of Jared Kushner: How the Saudis Got a Friend in the White House
By David D. Kirkpatrick, Ben Hubbard, Mark Landler and Mark Mazzetti
Dec. 8, 2018


Prince Mohammed bin Salman with Jared Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, in Riyadh last year. Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

Senior American officials were worried. Since the early months of the Trump administration, Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and Middle East adviser, had been having private, informal conversations with Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the favorite son of Saudi Arabia’s king.

Given Mr. Kushner’s political inexperience, the private exchanges could make him susceptible to Saudi manipulation, said three former senior American officials. In an effort to tighten practices at the White House, a new chief of staff tried to reimpose longstanding procedures stipulating that National Security Council staff members should participate in all calls with foreign leaders.

But even with the restrictions in place, Mr. Kushner, 37, and Prince Mohammed, 33, kept chatting, according to three former White House officials and two others briefed by the Saudi royal court. In fact, they said, the two men were on a first-name basis, calling each other Jared and Mohammed in text messages and phone calls.

The exchanges continued even after the Oct. 2 killing of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist who was ambushed and dismembered by Saudi agents, according to two former senior American officials and the two people briefed by the Saudis.

As the killing set off a firestorm around the world and American intelligence agencies concluded that it was ordered by Prince Mohammed, Mr. Kushner became the prince’s most important defender inside the White House, people familiar with its internal deliberations say.

[Me.]

1. Finally....

someone is focusing on blood on his hands Kushner

[BigmanPigman]

2. I want to know if Mueller will investigate this

since he is investigating Kushner and tRump finances. Mueller must have all the info on this relationship too.