Why MBS really gave Kushner $2 billion

• Jared Kushner was the Middle East Adviser in Trump's administration, despite no previous experience (Reuters)

Last week, details surfaced regarding a $2 billion investment secured by Jared Kushner by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF).

Donald Trump's son-in-law, defended bin Salman following US investigations that accused the Crown Prince of approving the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

Read more: Khashoggi killers live in luxury villas in Riyadh

 

The New York Times highlighted that the PIF agreed to invest twice as much with Kushner as it did with former US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin who was seeking a new fund.

According to Vicky Ward Investigates, a website for investigative journalist Vicky Ward, there may be more to the investment contribution than Kushner is revealing.

Kushner and his allies may have been a critical part of blocking US government support for the cousin of Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), Mohammed bin Nayef (MBN).

Read more: Bin Salman 'sadistic killer': Arabian Peninsula opposition

 

Allegedly, Kushner and his allies told the Saudi King Salman and MBS about a so-called coup d'etat in the Kingdom that would render MBN to take power and achieve regime change.

Kushner had previously been prevented from receiving a top-level security clearance, and sources familiar with the incident say it was due to his meddling in Saudi affairs.

MBN was afterward arrested in 2020 and there has been no word of him since. His chief aide, Saad bin Khalid Al-Jabri, fled to Canada.

Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer, believes it very likely that Kushner was "paid off" for warning the Saudi royals about MBN. The view has been shared by other intelligence community sources according to the investigative journalist.

Ward was interviewed on MSNBC yesterday, where she stated: 

"Jared Kushner basically handed the Saudis this information thereby giving Mohamed bin Salman the opportunity to get rid of his rival, knee cap him. This man has not been heard of since 2020. So basically, Jared Kushner gave information that was supposed to belong to the Americans to the Saudis thereby giving Mohamed bin Salman his job as the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.”

Riedel believes MBN poses a threat to him becoming an opponent of the war on Yemen, among other reasons. "I've always wondered why the agency was reluctant to give Jared top-secret clearance, and spilling intelligence to the Saudis [about MBN] would be a reason," Riedel said.

According to Ward, MBN informed others that he felt Kushner and MBS had established some type of "alliance" to get rid of him. MBN apparently felt the need to act prematurely and wanted to ensure that he kept top US government backing in the event that he organized a coup d'état to seize both King Salman, whom he believed was mentally incompetent, and MBS, whom he considered was dangerous.

He allegedly even went so far as to express that a financial arrangement was made between the two.

Regarding the round-ups of businessmen, royal family members, and former ministers in 2017 by MBS, Riedel stated that "Saudi Arabia was never a nice place. It was never a democracy, but it was not a repressive police state like this. And, certainly, members of the royal family were never ever imprisoned, nor were senior people in the business world. I mean, that just didn't happen."

Additionally, Riedel suggests that MBN has been abandoned by countries who he worked with, particularly the US, as he was considered a very close friend of the CIA.

A huge defender of bin Salman

While in office, Kushner helped mediate the so-called "Abraham Accords" that normalized ties between some Arab states and "Israel", and continued his efforts even after leaving the White House.

The Times said Trump's son-in-law also "helped broker $110 billion in weapons sales to Saudi Arabia over 10 years," and protected the Saudi regime from congressional outrage over the murder of Khashoggi and the war on Yemen.

According to the documents, a Saudi staff wrote that Kushner was hoping to avoid media attention, and that's the reason he approached the PIF instead of US investors.