Democrats in the US Congress initiated an investigation into suspicions of a conflict of interest against President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, related to Qatar's financing of a billion-dollar bailout deal for his family's skyscraper in New York, in exchange for the US retreat from supporting Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain's decision to boycott Doha.
The "Financial Times" newspaper said that lawmakers in the Senate Finance Committee and the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs sent a request to get documents containing expanded details from the "Brookfield Asset" company, in which the Qatar Investment Authority is a major investor, regarding a long-term lease contract signed by between the company and the tower, owned by the Kushner family in New York in 2018.
Doubts about Fate of Qatar's Investments
The signing of the lease at the time coincided with the Kushner family’s efforts to collect enough funds to save the tower, enabling them to pay off a $1.2 billion mortgage on the building, which is located in the "666 Fifth Avenue" area in New York.
The deal also coincided with a series of sharp changes in US foreign policy toward Qatar, according to the newspaper.
The newspaper reported that Jared Kushner was meeting with a number of leaders in the Middle East outside traditional diplomatic channels, and presenting himself to them as playing an important role in making US foreign policy.
The "Financial Times" said that the deal that the Kushner family concluded with the "Brookfield" company came at a time when the Trump administration was confused between supporting Qatar and criticizing it because of the accusations against Doha of supporting terrorism, during the crisis.
The US Secretary of State at the time, Rex Tillerson, urged the Saudi government to end the boycott imposed on Qatar, shortly after its announcement in 2017, citing the possibility that it would result in humanitarian consequences or harm US interests.
But Trump quickly undermined this position and confirmed in a tweet that he agreed with the Saudi decision.
Brookfield, the real estate company owned by the Kushner family, and the White House all declined the Financial Times' request for comment.
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