Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie declared that there was no need for Jared Kushner’s trips to the Middle East as a White House adviser to father-in-law Donald Trump, adding that he “cashed in” on his work in the administration.
The 2024 Republican presidential candidate, a Trump ally who turned into a critic following the January 6 riot, took aim at Kushner on Wednesday as he once again criticised the Trump family for “grifting.”
“Jared Kushner, six months after he leaves the White House, gets $2 billion (£1.58 billion) from the Saudi[-backed Public Investment] Fund when Donald Trump had put him in a position to be in the Middle East,” said Christie in an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.
“What was Jared Kushner doing in the Middle East? We had Rex Tillerson and Mike Pompeo as secretaries of state, we didn’t need Jared Kushner, he was put there to make those relationships and he cashed in on the relationships when he left the office.”
Christie’s remarks are tied to the PIF’s investment in Kushner’s investment firm in 2021, an investment that sparked a House Oversight Committee probe in 2022. Kushner incorporated the firm one day after Trump left office.
“Your close relationship with Crown Prince bin Salman [and] your pro-Saudi positions during the Trump Administration ... create the appearance of a quid pro quo for your foreign policy work during the Trump Administration,” wrote then-committee chair and former Rep. Carolyn Maloney (Democrat, New York) in a letter to Kushner.
A Kushner spokesperson told The New York Times last year that the ex-Trump White House adviser “fully abided by all legal and ethical guidelines both during and after his government service.”