A $2 billion Saudi deal involving Jared Kushner, Donald Trump‘s son-in-law and former adviser, resurfaced on Thursday after the GOP announced a plan to investigate a possible connection between President Joe Biden and the alleged finances of his son, Hunter Biden.
“I had no clue Hunter Biden was on the ballot. Jared was a WH employee and secured billions from the Saudis. I love the deflection,” Twitter user @jeanvas5 said on Thursday.
Another Twitter user wrote: “Hunter Biden: Does personal business deals as a private citizen. Jared Kushner: Got a $1 billion loan from the Saudis while working in the WH, and a $2 billion investment from the Saudis months after leaving the WH. GOP wants to investigate one of them. Guess which!”
Kushner reportedly received a $2 billion investment from the Public Investment Fund led by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman after he left the White House last year. The House Oversight Committee said in June that it will investigate this deal.
The money was invested in Kushner’s newly established private equity firm Affinity Partners, according to The New York Times, which cited previously undisclosed documents from the fund’s advisers, who had concerns about the deal.
They were reportedly worried about Kushner’s inexperience in fund management, “unsatisfactory” operations and “public relations risks,” among other concerns, but the crown prince made the deal with Kushner’s firm anyway.
In exchange for the investments, the Saudi fund would get a stake of at least 28 percent of Kushner’s Affinity Partners, according to the Times. The relationship between the crown prince and Kushner started in 2016, when they first met.
On Thursday, Republicans announced that they were planning to launch an investigation that would look into a possible connection between Biden and the alleged dealings of his son.
Their announcement comes after Republicans secured a majority in the House of Representatives in the midterm elections.
GOP Representative James Comer spoke about “suspicious activity reports,” or “SARs,” during a press conference, which he said are documents a bank must file with the Treasury Department when a transaction is “suspected to be related to money laundering or fraud, or other types of criminal activity.”
“According to media reports, the Biden family accumulated over 150 SARs,” Comer said.
“One SAR generated by an American bank to the Treasury Department connects Hunter Biden and his business associates to human trafficking, among other illegal activities,” Comer added.
The investigation aims to find out whether the president was involved in his son’s business deals.
Citizens for Ethics, a nonpartisan watchdog, tweeted: “Saudi Arabia handed $2,000,000,000 to Jared Kushner when he left the White House. A Saudi-backed golf tournament has been buoying Trump’s struggling golf empire. Right before he announced he was running for president, Trump’s family business signed a deal with a Saudi firm.”
The White House Counsel’s Office also criticized the GOP move on Thursday, as spokesperson Ian Sams told Newsweek that “congressional Republicans’ top priority is to go after President Biden with politically-motivated attacks chock full of long-debunked conspiracy theories.”
Newsweek reached out to Kushner’s media office for comment.
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