--- alias: - Jared Corey Kushner born: 1981-01-10 category: Political Figure created: 2026-06-18 location: Livingston, New Jersey (born) summary: Jared Kushner is an American investor and former senior advisor to President Donald Trump who shaped Middle East policy through the Abraham Accords and U.S.-Saudi arms sales, maintained a WhatsApp channel with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that the CIA assessed as compromised, and received a $2 billion investment from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund for his private equity firm months after leaving government despite the fund's own due-diligence panel rejecting the deal. tags: - Person - JaredKushner - Trump - SaudiArabia - MBS - AffinityPartners - AbrahamAccords - NSOGroup - Khashoggi updated: 2026-06-18 --- Jared Kushner (born January 10, 1981, in Livingston, New Jersey) is an American investor who served as senior advisor to President [Donald Trump](/people/donald-trump/) from January 2017 to January 2021, with a portfolio that included Middle East policy, criminal justice reform, and the federal pandemic response. Kushner shaped the Abraham Accords (the 2020 normalization agreements between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco), U.S.-Saudi arms sales, and the broader regional realignment that the Trump administration pursued. After leaving government, Kushner founded the private equity firm Affinity Partners, which received a 2 billion dollar commitment from the Saudi Public Investment Fund (chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman) despite the fund's own due-diligence panel recommending against the investment. Kushner maintained a documented WhatsApp communication channel with MBS during his government service, a channel the CIA assessed as compromised.[^1][^2][^3][^4] ### The White House Middle East Portfolio Kushner's White House portfolio covered the Middle East policy that produced the Abraham Accords, the U.S.-[Saudi Arabia](/places/saudi-arabia/) relationship, and the administration's approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Abraham Accords normalized relations between [Israel](/places/israel/) and the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco in 2020, breaking with the prior U.S. framework that had conditioned normalization on Israeli-Palestinian progress. Kushner led the negotiation, which ran alongside the administration's approval of major arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE despite congressional opposition.[^1][^2] The Saudi relationship was the central element. The Intercept reported that MBS boasted Kushner was "in his pocket," and that Kushner had grown close to the Saudi and Emirati crown princes through direct personal communication. Kushner's handling of the Saudi portfolio included the administration's response to the October 2018 Khashoggi murder, in which MBS was assessed by the CIA to have ordered the assassination. Kushner maintained his relationship with MBS after the murder.[^3][^4] ### The WhatsApp Channel and the Bezos Hack Kushner used WhatsApp to communicate directly with MBS during his government service, ABC News reported. The channel bypassed the official State Department and NSC communication systems and raised documented national-security concerns. In January 2020, The Guardian reported that Jeff Bezos's phone was hacked in May 2018 through a malicious file sent from MBS's personal WhatsApp account. The UN's Agnès Callamard subsequently advised Kushner to replace his phone, warning that anyone in regular contact with MBS via WhatsApp could be a surveillance target.[^4][^5][^6] The WhatsApp channel that MBS used to communicate with Kushner was the same channel used to compromise Bezos. Whether Kushner's own device was compromised through the channel is not confirmed in the public record. The CIA assessed with high confidence that MBS was in regular contact with Kushner via private channels.[^4][^5] ### The Khashoggi Surveillance [NSO Group](/organizations/nso-group/)'s Pegasus spyware was deployed against associates of Jamal Khashoggi before the October 2018 murder inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The Guardian reported in July 2021, based on the Pegasus Project leak, that Pegasus was found on the phone of Khashoggi's wife Hanan Elatr months before the killing. An Emirati government agency separately placed NSO spyware on the phone of a Khashoggi associate, Al Jazeera reported. Khashoggi's friend Omar Abdul Aziz sued NSO Group, claiming its spyware enabled the killing.[^7] The NSO Group-Khashoggi surveillance, the MBS WhatsApp channel, and the Kushner-MBS relationship together form the documented chain through which the Saudi surveillance apparatus operated against Khashoggi and his network while MBS maintained his private communication channel with the senior U.S. advisor handling Saudi policy.[^4][^7] ### Affinity Partners and the Middle East Sovereign Wealth Affinity Partners was founded by Kushner in 2021 after leaving government. Within months, the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), chaired by MBS, committed 2 billion dollars to the fund. The Wall Street Journal reported that the PIF's own due-diligence panel recommended against the investment, citing Kushner's lack of private-equity experience and characterizing the pitch as "unsatisfactory in all aspects." MBS overruled the panel and approved the commitment.[^1][^2] The UAE and Qatar subsequently invested at least 1.5 billion dollars combined, per Mother Jones. By early 2024, Affinity managed approximately 3 billion dollars in foreign-sourced capital. Bloomberg reported in May 2026 that the fund had grown to approximately 6 billion dollars under management, nearly all of it from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth. The Wall Street Journal documented that Kushner's fund planned to invest Saudi money into Israeli startups, leveraging the normalization momentum from the Abraham Accords.[^1][^8][^10] Senator Ron Wyden (Senate Finance Committee chairman) and Representative Robert Garcia opened a congressional investigation into Affinity Partners. The investigation documented the firm's fee structure (approximately 157 million dollars in fees collected), the lack of returns to investors, and what the committee characterized as questionable deals with foreign governments. Bloomberg reported on Kushner's documented "dual role" as both a 6-billion-dollar fund manager and a Middle East peace envoy, with the same governments that back his fund being the parties he engages diplomatically. A Qatar-backed investment fund was also tied to a 1-billion-dollar rental deal that helped resolve Kushner family financial issues.[^8][^9][^10] [^1]: "Jared Kushner defends controversial $2bn Saudi investment." *BBC,* 2024. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68296877 [^2]: "Jared Kushner's New Fund Plans to Invest Saudi Money in Israel." *Wall Street Journal,* 2022. https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/jared-kushners-new-fund-plans-to-invest-saudi-money-in-israel-11651927236 [^3]: "They Went to Jared." *Mother Jones,* June 2026. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/06/jared-kushner-affinity-partners-fund-saudi-arabia-qatar-uae-israel-middle-east-deals-nepotism/ [^4]: "Jared Kushner, Mohammed bin Salman, and the Making of the Trump-Saudi Alliance." *The Intercept,* March 2018. https://theintercept.com/2018/03/21/jared-kushner-saudi-crown-prince-mohammed-bin-salman/ [^5]: "Amazon boss Jeff Bezos's phone 'hacked by Saudi crown prince.'" *The Guardian,* January 21, 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/jan/21/amazon-boss-jeff-bezoss-phone-hacked-by-saudi-crown-prince [^6]: "Jared Kushner used WhatsApp to message foreign contacts in White House." *ABC News.* https://abcnews.com/Politics/jared-kushner-whatsapp-foreign-contacts-lawyer-tells-congress/story?id=61843329 [^7]: "NSO spyware used to target family of Jamal Khashoggi, leaked data shows." *The Guardian,* July 18, 2021. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/18/nso-spyware-used-to-target-family-of-jamal-khashoggi-leaked-data-shows-saudis-pegasus [^8]: Wyden investigation of Affinity Partners, *U.S. Senate Finance Committee.* https://www.finance.senate.gov/chairmans-news/wyden-investigation-of-kushner-firm-continues-new-letter-outlines-affinity-partners-fee-structure-lack-of-return-to-investors-questionable-deals-with-foreign-governments [^9]: "Jared Kushner Solicits Funds for His Firm While Working as Mideast Advisor." *New York Times,* March 2026. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/13/business/jared-kushner-affinity-mideast-funds.html [^10]: "Kushner Disappoints Mideast Clients." *Bloomberg,* May 14, 2026. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2026-05-14/jared-kushner-s-dual-role-trump-peace-envoy-and-6-billion-fund-manager ; Garcia and Wyden letter to Affinity Partners, House Oversight Democrats, March 2026. https://oversightdemocrats.house.gov/download/2026-03-19garcia-wyden-letter-to-affinity-partners-re-kushner-fundraising