Jared Kushner’s War
Sources
Batrawy, Aya. “What Jared Kushner’s ‘New Gaza’ Plan Includes, and What It Leaves Out.” Middle East. NPR, February 2, 2026. https://www.npr.org/2026/02/02/nx-s1-5694656/jared-kushner-new-gaza-plan.
Benen, Steve. “Jared Kushner’s Conflicts of Interest Become Even More Controversial.” MS NOW, March 17, 2026. https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/jared-kushners-conflicts-of-interest-become-even-more-controversial.
“Democracy Defenders Fund Complaint to the Office of Inspector General.” March 3, 2026. https://dea5edf3-e27d-4adc-a42a-b9c082bc3167.usrfiles.com/ugd/dea5ed_2e4854af415f41bba7cb0fa980b94158.pdf
Detzel, Allison. “Ex-Obama Ethics Czar Rips Kushner for Seeking Billions from Middle East Regimes.” MS NOW, March 17, 2026. https://www.ms.now/news/ethics-czar-rips-trump-administration-jared-kushner-middle-east-business-billions.
Klein, Naomi. Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World. 2024. https://bookshop.org/a/83711/9781250338143.
Marcetic, Branko. “Not so Diplomatic: Witkoff, Kushner, and Trump’s March to War in Iran.” Responsible Statecraft. Accessed March 20, 2026. https://responsiblestatecraft.org/witkoff-iran-war/.
Nerozzi, Dian. “How Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff See the World.” POLITICO, March 10, 2026. https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/10/how-jared-kushner-steve-witkoff-see-the-world-00820113.
Verbalaitis, Vic “Rep Sounds Alarm on Trump Family Member’s ‘Corruption.’” The Daily Beast, March 19, 2026. https://www.thedailybeast.com/rep-robert-garcia-sounds-alarm-on-trump-family-member-jared-kushners-corruption/.
Transcript
Hi it’s Friday, March 20th, 2026, you’re tuned in to Why, America? I’m your lawyer friend, Leeja Miller. While a war needlessly started with the help of the United States rages on in the middle east, I want to talk about one little guy who played an outsized role in the conflict, and who is apparently attempting to financially benefit from it all to the tune of multiple BILLIONS of dollars, Jared Kushner. He’s been married to Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka since 2008, played a major role in Trump’s first election, and has since benefitted from his time in the White House by enriching himself through immense foreign investments into his wholly owned private equity firm, Affinity Partners. This week it was revealed that as he has been actively negotiating quote unquote “peace” in the middle east, he has also been reportedly attempting to drum up FIVE BILLION dollars in investment from the very countries poised to benefit most from a weakened Iran, while also receiving tens of millions of dollars in management fees from those very same countries for their investments in Affinity Partners. Kushner is one of the most important goons in the Trump regime goon squad, and while he attempted to at least appear slightly concerned with ethics and propriety the first time around, during this second term, Kushner appears entirely convinced that there is no reason to put up the facade anymore. And it follows a pattern of corruption during Trump 2.0 that is all too familiar–we are at a point where no one is even trying to pretend that ethics laws apply to them, NO ONE seems concerned about being held accountable for anything, and corruption that would have once been an unprecedented scandal gets swept aside in the daily torrent of atrocities being committed around the globe by the Trump regime. But long after the icy cold grip of death finally comes for papa Trump, these soulless monsters that have been pulling strings behind the scenes will continue attempting to fuck shit up on a global scale, so it’s important to pay attention to them. Trump, at this point, is so clearly a delusional half dead propped up mouthpiece that it’s rarely even worth paying attention to what he says he thinks is going on. The markets seem to rise and fall at his whim, but the real work is happening in the shadows, perpetrated by ghouls like Jared Kushner, and so I want to take a moment this episode to really look Jared and his crimes in the eye and see them for what they are, if for no other reason than to create a contemporaneous record for the eventual Nuremberg Trials after all is said and done. But first, a palate cleanser.
AD
It doesn’t really feel like it in Minnesota right now but I promise you guys spring is COMING. And as the weather changes, having some high quality basics and layers that I can turn to over and over again is essential for me. But I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel or buy pieces that are gonna fall apart in a couple months. Finding clothes and home goods that are made to last is nearly impossible these days. And the sourcing and ethics behind some of the most popular brands is… questionable, at best, and overwhelming to keep track of. That’s why I love to keep it simple and find long-lasting items I can use year after year from Quince, my partner on today’s video. From 100% Grade A mongolian cashmere and buttery soft bamboo bedding to velvet curtains and cast iron Dutch ovens and more, Quince brings the high-end essentials I need all together in one place, including transparent information about sourcing and ethics that is impossible to find from other brands. By cutting out the middlemen and the traditional markups, Quince delivers the same quality as luxury brands at a fraction of the price. Their products are consistently rated between 4.5 and 5 stars and include rave reviews from people who actually bought these items and loved them enough to write glowing reviews, which I find really helpful while shopping. And I love that the things I get from Quince genuinely hold up season after season. I have been loving their 100% organic cotton fisherman crew sweater for years at this point. I wear it over and over again, because it’s soft and cozy and holds up to my Minnesotan winters and goes with everything. I have also been LIVING in their cotton cashmere ribbed long sleeved dress. When I’m lounging around at home I often pair it with their Mongolian cashmere bathrobe and it truly makes me feel so luxurious and fancy and cozy. But also it’s held up to the abuse it gets from my dog crawling all over me. I am genuinely so pleased with the quality. And you can upgrade your wardrobe, home, and more with high-end essentials from Quince. Go to quince dot come slash leeja now to get free shipping and 365-day returns. That’s Q U I N C E dot com slash leeja. Thanks to Quince for partnering with me on today’s video!
We’ll get into Jared’s alleged crimes, here’s a quick primer on his background. Jared Corey Kushner was born January 10th, 1981, son of real estate investor Charles Kushner. He counted among his family friends during his childhood Bill and Hillary Clinton as well as Benjamin Netanyahu. His father Charles donated $2.5 million dollars to Harvard right before they accepted Jared into their undergrad program–probably just a coincidence I’m sure!! He started dabbling in real estate investing in undergrad, a completely regular and normal thing for a college freshman to do–attend lectures, join a student organization, purchase property in the Boston area, one of the most expensive in the country, etc. After graduating from Harvard he went to NYU where he got a dual JD and MBA, while continuing to dabble. Unfortunately, around this time, ol Papa Charles got himself into a bit of hot water. In 2005 he became a convicted felon and was sentenced to 2 years in prison for illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering. So baby Jared had to step up and take over his father’s real estate business while daddy Kushner was in the clink. Oh but don’t worry about old Charles now, he did fine in prison and in 2020 Trump issued him an official presidential pardon. He’s now the United States ambassador to France. It’s probably fine.
Anyway, Jared goes on to expand the Kushner real estate business aggressively, managing to survive the 2008 collapse though not without some major financial disasters along the way. As rich men are wont to do, he dabbled in startups, created a real estate investment app called Cadre, and bought a newspaper, the New York Observer, despite having zero journalist experience. Honestly the story of Jared Kushner is really don’t let inexperience or imposter syndrome or like zero knowledge about a topic or a face so ghoulish it reveals the soulless entity within ever stop you from going after your dreams, kids.
Now Jared was actually a lifelong Democrat until Donald Trump’s run for office began in 2015 – which the fact that a soulless ghoulish real estate developer could still identify with the democratic party is all you need to know about the politics of the democratic party, then and now–but then in 2015, Jared threw himself ten toes down for papa Trump, masterminding the campaign’s social media strategy, which included hiring Steve Bannon’s firm Cambridge Analytica, among other memorable choices. He then spearheaded the Trump transition team and was eventually named senior advisor to the president during Trump’s first term. Jared has been cited as one of Trump’s truest and closest confidants, closer to him than his own children. And that proved true throughout the first administration. Some of Jared’s most important work during that time began when he was entrusted with peace negotiations in the middle east, which resulted in a series of Abraham Accords that normalized relations between various Gulf Coast countries, specifically the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, and Israel. Reminder that Jared grew up a close family friend of Benjamin Netanyahu. Like sometimes Ben would cash on teenage Jared’s bed when he dropped by for family visits, which is like honestly concerning as I’m saying that out loud. Sorry Benjamin Netanyahu slept in Jared Kushner’s teenage bed? The New York Times reported Jared slept in the basement when that happened, but like I’m sorry a major real estate developer didn’t have a fucking guest room? These people are fucking creeps. But anyway, during Trump’s first term Jared Kushner spent a lot of his time and energy doing something else he was woefully unqualified and had no training for: running around brokering peace deals to benefit Israel. Because if there’s one thing many countries in the middle east hate more than their arab-murdering neighbor Israel, it’s their Shia Muslim neighbor with all the proxy armies, Iran. So that was all BEFORE Trump’s second term began.
Now we’re going to play a fun lawyer game where I am going to tell you what the law says and then, separately, I am going to tell you what Jared Kushner has (allegedly) done over the last few months, and we’re gonna see if we can put our lawyer hats on and connect the dots. Shall we? I’m pulling this from a complaint filed with the Inspector General earlier this month against Jared Kushner by Democracy Defenders Fund, it’s linked in the description along with all my other sources, as per usual.
AHEM. 5 USC section 3110 called the anti-nepotism statute, says that “no public official, including the President, is permitted to appoint, employ, promote, or advocate for appointment in or to a civilian position in an agency, any individual who is a relative of the public official.”
18 USC section 208, that’s the criminal code, says that an officer or employee of the United States, including any special government employee, may not participate personally and substantially as a Government officer or employee in a particular matter in which he or an organization in which he is serving as officer has a financial interest.” Willfully violating 18 USC 208 comes with up to 5 years in prison.
5 CFR part 2635 requires that government employees place loyalty to the Constitution, the laws, and ethical principles above private gain. It prohibits government employees from engaging in financial transactions using nonpublic Government information, from using public office for private gain, and from giving preferential treatment to any private organization or individual.
Article 1, section 9, clause 8 of the US Constitution, also known as the Foreign Emoluments clause says, quote “No person holding any office of profit or trust shall, without the consent of the congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.” The term emolument has long included any form of “profit, advantage, gain or benefit” to include profits from private financial arrangements. So that’s what various laws say. Pretty clear, pretty explicit, a bit more teeth than your average “good faith” gentlemen’s agreements that are being shattered left and right by the Trump regime. These are actually written down. Turns out that since the founding of this country we have always been incredibly concerned with government corruption. Which makes sense if you think about it its kind of one of the most basic things we can do to try to ensure that government runs well and for the benefit of the people–prohibiting the people in government from personally gaining directly from their work in government, you know prohibit them from putting themselves above their ethical duties. Granted of course this becomes murky when you’re talking about, for example, Supreme Court justices signing million dollar book deals, but at the very least we’re pretty clear like if you have a private business you cannot join the government and then use your position in government to directly make yourself more money through your businesses. For 250 years we have understood that to be the case. Government employees down to the lowest level can’t so much as look twice at a free ticket to a baseball game without going up the chain of command to get it okayed with a superior, and it probably won’t be. Obama’s ethics czar expressly prohibited him from refinancing his personal home while in office because it was a conflict of interest with his role regulating the financial sector. That is how carefully this stuff was handled prior to Trump’s first term in office. Even during his first term, Jared Kushner resigned from his real estate development firm and from his role at the Observer in order to keep up appearances and at least TRY to look like he was following some sort of traditional code of ethics.
And as I’ve said, a lot of lessons were learned during the first Trump presidency about the pesky things that get in the way of Trump’s ability to get things done, and those lessons have been put to good use in this second term. First and foremost of course was get rid of anyone who would ever dare tell the president No, that was a major mistake in his first term. But also, apparently, the facade of any sense of obligation to norms or ethical standards is also completely out the window, they’re not even bothering with pretending anymore, and chief among Trump’s goons to have thrown caution to the wind is Jared fuckin Kushner.
After the end of Trump’s first term, Jared Kushner, in another act of defiance against the need for experience decided to start his own little private equity firm called Affinity Partners. And what do you know, mere months after he left the first Trump administration, who should come calling but Saudi Arabia, looking to invest TWO BILLION DOLLARS from its sovereign wealth fund into Jared Kushner’s own little private equity firm. Not long after, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar came calling as well, each investing billions more in the firm. Today, Affinity manages around 5.4 billion dollars in assets, 99% of which comes from foreign investors, mostly in the middle east. And Affinity continues to receive around $40 million dollars per year in management fees–fees paid by these countries and companies in the middle east for Jared to sit on these investments and try to make them more money. So again, Jared Kushner is on the pay roll of, among other countries, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, to the tune of millions of dollars every single month in management fees for his private equity firm, of which he is the sole owner. At the same time as this is happening, and it is still happening, in February, just last month, Trump named Jared Kushner a “special envoy for peace.” According to the complaint filed by Defending Democracy Fund, quote “the term ‘special envoy’ generally refers to a person temporarily appointed to conduct high-level diplomatic activities on behalf of the president and the secretary of state.”
On TOP of this, the investment agreements signed between Affinity Partners and Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE, give those countries the right to renegotiate the terms of their investments or withdraw their funds entirely from Affinity Partners in AUGUST 2026. That means that this August, if any of those countries are unhappy with Trump’s policies or activities in the middle east, they have MULTI BILLION DOLLAR LEVERAGE over Jared Kushner, Trump’s close confidant and literal son in law. Weird it’s almost like these anticorruption laws were written FOR A REASON. And so then in February, Trump sends little Jared, along with fellow real estate developer Steve Witkoff, to Iran to try to negotiate a deal related to nuclear arms. A deal that, I’ll remind you, OBAMA HAD ALREADY MADE and Trump pulled out of in his first term. SO you have a man who is literal family with the President of the United States, who has intense financial interests in BILLIONS OF DOLLARS with countries that are the long time sworn enemies of Iran who is sitting across the table from Iran attempting to broker some sort of anti nuclear proliferation deal. Like if I were to sit down and write the textbook on corruption this would be such an on the nose example as to be hard to believe if it weren’t happening right in front of our faces.
And that’s the fucking rub of it all, this is happening in BROAD FUCKING DAYLIGHT. Yes Jared Kushner hasn’t provided proper financial disclosures or gotten any Senate approval for his special envoy appointment but like the point of financial disclosures is to root out corruption and conflicts of interest. We don’t need additional financial disclosures to tell us that corruption is actively happening before our very eyes. And the Trump regime doesn’t give two flying fucks. We can all see it and they’re saying so what. What are you gonna do about it.
And the reason this is so important is because this isn’t just run of the mill corruption aw shucks Jared’s gonna make a quick buck and that’s not fair. This corruption has led directly to the war in Iran happening right now. To the death of hundreds and the displacement of literally millions across the Middle East. To the threat of literal global economic collapse. Of course Jared Kushner is not the evil mastermind behind it all, but he is a central spoke in the wheel that has fallen entirely off the fucking rails. Because the son in law of the president with billions of dollars in financial ties to the sworn enemies of Iran was tasked with negotiating with Iran, despite having zero experience with nuclear negotiations, zero understanding of the deep cultural, social, religious, and political history in the region, and zero understanding even with how the development of nuclear weapons even works.
According to analysis by Responsible Statecraft, quote “based on Trump officials’ on-the-record briefing about the failure of the talks, the duo appeared to have fatally misunderstood a series of basic technical and historical matters involved in the talks. … several observers have concluded that the war may have started because of Witkoff and Kushner’s “lack of nuclear knowledge” and because they “lacked the technical expertise to even understand what the Iranians were offering in negotiations.” Indeed, the Trump administration opted against including nuclear experts in the negotiating team, a fact which reportedly confused the Iranians.
Others privy to the talks have made more serious allegations, directly challenging Witkoff and Kushner’s account of what transpired. Witkoff’s claim that the Iranians had boasted about having enough enriched uranium for 11 nuclear bombs simply never happened.” (according to their sources).
And this grave misstep in global peace talks could have been the result of a couple bumbling fools, but it also could be the result of one of those bumbling fools having an incredible amount to gain by keeping his investors happy, the ones who would love to see Iran pummelled into oblivion. Or by keeping his childhood friend Benjamin Netanyahu happy, who has been foaming at the mouth for war with Iran for decades. And Jared himself could benefit from a stronger Israel no longer stymied by the nearby Iran-backed rebel groups. Back in February, before being named special envoy for peace, Jared made a presentation in Davos, Switzerland, advocating for a vision of a “New Gaza.” One that is strikingly in line with Trump’s own vision of war ravaged Gaza converted into a fun resort haven. It’s a plan NPR called “an investment opportunity atop the ruins of what a UN commission determined was a genocide committed by Israel.”
I recently read Naomi Klein’s 2023 book Doppelganger, which examines the ways that doubles appear in our world, whether in the form of conspiracy theories and political polarization or allegories of evil twins or, in the case of Israel, a tale of a people ravaged by genocide and yet willing to become a sort of doppelganger of the very regime that sought to destroy them. People who are taught from birth that the existence of Israel is necessary for their survival, that they deserve Israel because of the horrors of the Holocaust, that even the term “genocide” was theirs alone to bear, who are willing to turn to the types of extermination, of ghettos and mass slaughtering, that were once used against them onto the Palestinian people. Klein, who shares her own experiences growing up Jewish, concludes that perhaps this is the clearest end result of the world we have built, of the centuries of genocide at the hands of empires, genocide committed by European powers, by America, Hitler took inspiration from Jim Crow laws, slavery, and the sadistic way America treated black people, after all, that Hitler and the holocaust was merely an intense concentration of centuries of genocidal activity in the name of empire and capital, and Israel is merely continuing that bloody legacy. How very perfectly fitting, then, that Jared Kushner, the grandson of Holocaust survivors, a lifelong Zionist, would be the soulless ghoulish harbinger of a garish final solution for Gaza a twisted Disneyland for real estate developers lapping up whatever profits come from the disintegration of the Middle East, itself a favorite source of extractive subjugation. How very perfect that Jared Kushner may have been a key instigator of the third world war. It’s almost too on the nose to bear.
I don’t have a cute way to wrap this up with a section about what we all can do. This is bigger than us at this point. But it’s important not to look away. It’s important not to normalize or sweep under the rug this level of complete and utter corruption. All we can do at this point is document the horrors so that, once the dust finally settles, those who are still left standing will have to face a reckoning for their actions.
If you’d like to support my work consider joining on YouTube, Substack, or Patreon to get access to all these episodes completely ad free. Also if you like my Reagan Ruined Everything tshirt you can get one for yourself at leeja miller merch dot com. Thank you to my multi-platinum patrons Christopher Cowan, Evan Friedley, Marc, Sarah Shelby, Dennis Smith, Art, David, L’etranger (Lukus), Thomas Johnson, and Tay. Your generosity makes this channel what it is, so thank you!
And if you liked this episode, you’ll like my episode from yesterday about the gutting of America’s soft power.
