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UPDATE: There is a lot of other important news regarding Kushner in other chapters. Any other augmenting?

Does it make sense to change this chapter title featuring the fact that after the loan went through, the blockade was gone?

This was a very tough week for Jared Kushner-though he’s had a lot of very tough weeks, the shear volume of stories this week was dizzying.

1.  The week started with the news that Jared’s security clearance was-finally-downgraded.

“Jared Kushner, senior adviser and son-in-law to President Trump, had his security clearance downgraded Friday, sharply limiting his access to some of the nation’s most sensitive secrets amid concerns raised by the ongoing investigation of his background, two White House officials said Tuesday.”

“Kushner was one of several White House officials who received a memo Friday announcing that because of their interim security clearances, their status was being downgraded from the “Top Secret/SCI” level to the “Secret” level, a far lower level of access to classified information.”

“The memo came after White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly had set a Friday deadline for all staffers operating under an interim clearance to have their temporary clearance revoked, and after Kelly came under scrutiny for his handling of domestic-abuse allegations against former staff secretary Rob Porter — who had also been operating under an interim clearance.”

This after having access to the most sensitive intelligence despite having only interim clearance.  As the Post notes, Porter only came under the recent scrutiny after it emerged he still didn’t have permanent clearance after a year. It turned out there were many such cases in the Trump WH-including, of course, Jared himself.

Even now, however, Kushner may be benefitting from a ‘special carve out’ exception.

Remember when Trump ran against ‘mishandling classified information?’ Well…

“Because he had an interim clearance, Kushner was not supposed to be able to see the president’s daily intelligence briefing or have access to other top-secret program information, one administration official said. But the rules were not enforced with regard to the access rules for the president’s son-in-law. ”

UPDATE: But despite the alleged downgrade he actually continued to operate at top clearance, here we are over a year later-this was written on March 3, 2018 and it’s now March13, 2019 and the Democrats are now investigating how he got it despite his application being rejected. 

FN: This was by the now late Elijah Cummings who so many of us miss. It’s not clear what the status of the investigation into how Kushner got the clearance is. If Oversight has continued to investigate it hasn’t shared anything with the public. And, of course, there was nothing about the clearances-or the Russia House’s stunningly hypocritical use of private emails for government business-another issue Oversight was investigating.

Look I think Schiff did a pretty good job of providing drama at the hearings-his voice alone tends to give the process a certain moral grandeur. But I do think it was a mistake to drop subpoenas-even if they were going to proceed as they have done with the two articles of impeachment they should still have kept the court process going. In addition they should have kept the inquiry.

Nadler doesn’t have Schiff’s penchant for infusing things with moral drama-though his sucker punch of the GOPers Thursday night-ending the hearings for the night was a boss move.

But my main concern is they are rushing the articles of impeachment to #MoscowMitch-who have vowed to rig the entire process for ‘President Trump’ too quickly.

I certainly think they should have pushed for the GOP co-conspirators to testify-then investigated things like the emoluments violations, security clearances and the private email use. Agree with Brian Beutler 1000 percent they should keep the inquiry open. They want to do this is to look at all Trump’s impeachable offenses-or as many as you can fit into the next nine months.

End of FN

 

Recently someone in Trump’s own Russia House leaked the information to Oversight. 

2. Earlier this week the Times broke a story of how Kushner collected over half a billion dollars for his-desperately struggling-family business; as they have ever since that terrible purchase of the NY 666 property on 5th AVE-after meeting with some hotshots in the WH.

Remember when Trump supposedly ran against ‘pay for play’ at the Clinton Foundation? Which never passed the laugh test in the first place though the media took his poise perfectly seriously-to their discredit.

FN: Trump’s fake Hunter Biden scandal shows the MSM still hasn’t learned.

Well how would you describe the fact pattern in Jared’s regular meetings with private equity billionaire, Joshua Harris?

“Early last year, a private equity billionaire started paying regular visits to the White House.”

“Joshua Harris, a founder of Apollo Global Management, was advising Trump administration officials on infrastructure policy. During that period, he met on multiple occasions with Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, said three people familiar with the meetings. Among other things, the two men discussed a possible White House job for Mr. Harris.”

“The job never materialized, but in November, Apollo lent $184 million to Mr. Kushner’s family real estate firm, Kushner Companies. The loan was to refinance the mortgage on a Chicago skyscraper.”

Yup-pay for play on steroids. I’m sure this huge loan after meeting the head of the firm about a job was in no way related. Ok there’s appearances but those only matter for the Clintons.

FN: And now for Biden and his son as he quite possibly will be Trump’s opponent.

“Even by the standards of Apollo, one of the world’s largest private equity firms, the previously unreported transaction with the Kushners was a big deal: It was triple the size of the average property loan made by Apollo’s real estate lending arm, securities filings show.”

“It was one of the largest loans Kushner Companies received last year. An even larger loan came from Citigroup, which lent the firm and one of its partners $325 million to help finance a group of office buildings in Brooklyn.”

3. Then came the news that Mueller is investigating if Kushner’s foreign business ties influenced Trump WH policy:

“Federal investigators are scrutinizing whether any of Jared Kushner’s business discussions with foreigners during the presidential transition later shaped White House policies in ways designed to either benefit or retaliate against those he spoke with, according to witnesses and other people familiar with the investigation.”

“Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team has asked witnesses about Kushner’s efforts to secure financing for his family’s real estate properties, focusing specifically on his discussions during the transition with individuals from Qatar and Turkey, as well as Russia, China and the United Arab Emirates, according to witnesses who have been interviewed as part of the investigation into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign to sway the 2016 election.

Now here’s something quite stark and fascinating: Mueller has reached out to Turkish nationals for information on Kushner’s ties to their country:

“As part of the scrutiny of Kushner’s discussions with Turks, federal investigators have reached out to Turkish nationals for information on Kushner through the FBI’s legal attache office in Ankara, according to two people familiar with the matter.”

“For their part, officials from Qatar considered taking it upon themselves, during a recent visit in February, 2018 to reach out to Mueller on what they see as evidence of their foreign Gulf neighbors coordinating with Kushner to harm their country.”

And this brings us to Kushner bombshell number four for the week: Kushner actively sought money for his struggling family firm, Kushner Industries, not just from wealthy Qatari individuals as he did in December 2016, but later, in April 2017, from the Qatari government itself.

“THE REAL ESTATE firm tied to the family of presidential son-in-law and top White House adviser Jared Kushner made a direct pitch to Qatar’s minister of finance in April 2017 in an attempt to secure investment in a critically distressed asset in the company’s portfolio, according to two sources. At the previously unreported meeting, Jared Kushner’s father Charles, who runs Kushner Companies, and Qatari Finance Minister Ali Sharif Al Emadi discussed financing for the Kushners’ signature 666 Fifth Avenue property in New York City.”

“The 30-minute meeting, according to two sources in the financial industry who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the potential transaction, included aides to both parties, and was held at a suite at the St. Regis Hotel in New York.”

“A follow-up meeting was held the next day in a glass-walled conference room at the Kushner property itself, though Al Emadi did not attend the second gathering in person.”

This meeting was-unsuccessful-and just a month later the nation of Qatar faced a massive blockade.

Another ‘amazing coincidence.’

“The failure to broker the deal would be followed only a month later by a Middle Eastern diplomatic row in which Jared Kushner provided critical support to Qatar’s neighbors. Led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, a group of Middle Eastern countries, with Kushner’s backing, led a diplomatic assault that culminated in a blockade of Qatar. Kushner, according to reports at the time, subsequently undermined efforts by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to bring an end to the standoff.”

 

So was this blockade of the nation of Qatar payback on the part of a poor little rich boy who was unable to finagle a loan for his struggling family business? Struggling through no small part due to part Jared himself played in the ill fated purchase of 666 5th Ave New York?

 

Evidently the Qatari government itself thinks so.

On Friday afternoon, NBC News reported that in late January and early February, Qatari government officials visiting the U.S. “considered turning over to Mueller what they believe is evidence of efforts by their country’s Persian Gulf neighbors in coordination with Kushner to hurt their country.”

“The Gulf crisis involving Qatar and its neighbors will likely be Kushner’s defining foreign policy legacy. The crisis followed a May visit to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, by Kushner and President Donald Trump, who subsequently took credit for Saudi Arabia and its allies’ efforts against Qatar. The fallout has reshaped geopolitical alliances in the region, splitting the Gulf Cooperation Council and pushing Qatar, home to the Middle East’s largest U.S. military base, closer to Turkey and Iran.”

Can you imagine if Hillary Clinton’s daughter, Chelsea, sided against an important ally with a vital military base like Qatar as payback for them not giving a huge donation to the Clinton Foundation? And that this led to a Gulf crisis? Is the Gulf crisis the result of Kushner vindictively punishing Qatar for not bailing out his failing family business?

UPDATE: In another ‘total coincidence’ after the Qatari Minister of Finance reversed and gave Kushner the loan the blockade came to an end.

UPDATE 2.0: Think of how serious this is if true-Trump’s own SOS was prevented from ending hostilities by Kushner who never should have had clearance in the first place. This maybe gives us an idea of why many consider Kushner the biggest national security threat in this country today. 

 

 

 

 

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October 28, 2016: a Day That Will Live in Infamy Copyright © by . All Rights Reserved.

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