Family Matters: News Of Jared Kushner Soros Ties Comes Weeks After Ivanka’s Line Scores Chinese Trademark Deal

The Wall St. Journal reported yesterday that Top white house advisor and son-in-law of President Trump, Jared Kushner, failed to disclose business ties to Billionaires George Soros, Peter Thiel, and Goldman Sachs. Kushner also failed to mention his stake in Cadre, a real estate company he co-founded in 2014 with his brother Joshua and friend Ryan Williams. What’s more, Kushner has loans totaling over $1 billion with over 20 lenders – $300 million of which he has personally guaranteed.

Kushner’s lawyer Jamie Gorlick – former deputy Attorney General to Bill Clinton, told the Wall St. Journal that Kushner would revise his government financial-disclosure forms to include Cadre once ethics officials have reviewed them.

Ms. Gorelick also said that Kushner has “resigned from Cadre’s board, assigned his voting rights, and reduced his ownership share. Ms. Gorelick characterized the update to Kushner’s form as “very normal,” however questions remain over whether or not one of the President’s top advisors should have disclosed his ownership of Cadre in the first place:

Trevor Potter, a Republican former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, and other ethics experts said investments such as Mr. Kushner’s ownership of Cadre typically need to be disclosed.

They said Mr. Kushner didn’t appear to violate disclosure rules by not publicly reporting his business-related debts and guarantees. But they said such arrangements ideally should be disclosed, in part because they could force Mr. Kushner to recuse himself from certain issues involving the lenders.

“Anything that presents a potential for the conflict of interest should be disclosed so that the public and the press can monitor this,” Mr. Potter said. –WSJ

The news of Kushner’s undisclosed ties to George Soros and his outstanding loans comes less than a month after eyebrows were raised when Ivanka Trump’s company won three new trademarks from China, the same day Chinese President Xi Jinping dined with the Trumps at Mar-a-lago, stoking concerns over conflicts of interest and pay-to-play politics within the White House. Moreover, Trump has decided not to label China a “currency manipulator,” after spending much of the 2016 Presidential campaign promising to do so. Mr. Trump’s reasoning is that China is cooperating in regards to North Korea.

While Ivanka Trump has stepped away from her fashion line since becoming “assistant to the President,” she will remain the sole beneficiary to a trust holding all assets of the company bearing her name, as will Jared Kushner with his prior holdings. Jamie Gorlick, who also represents Ivanka Trump, stated that Ms. Trump will no longer appear in advertisements for her company, and she has separated her business and personal social media accounts – replacing photos of herself with her products with those of official business.

“Ivanka created the trust to separate herself from the business and implement controls and processes that facilitate compliance with ethical requirements,” –NYT

While it appears that the creation of trusts and stepping away from their businesses may legally shield Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner’s from prosecution, they are skating a fine line with Title 18 section 208 of the Code of Federal Regulations, which states “an officer or employee of the executive branch of the United States Government” may not have a financial interest which may directly benefit from their activities while employed by the Federal government. It is unclear at this time if Ivanka violated Federal law or the terms of her trust by having dinner with Chinese President Xi while her company was granted Chinese trademarks – however she is required to recuse herself from official business or veto business deals which may conflict with each other. It should also be noted that Ivanka Trump will still retain her stake in the Trump International Hotel.

Between Jared Kushner’s undisclosed debts, ownership in Cadre, and business ties with George Soros – the man who spent much of 2016 allegedly hiring agitators to protest and disrupt Trump events, and Ivanka’s fashion line receiving curiously timed trademarks from China, questions over nepotism, conflicts of interest, and pay-for-play may haunt the Trump White House for years to come.

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