Ben Rhodes Accuses Jared Kushner of Corruption ‘Like We’ve Never Seen Before’ In Taking Billions From the Saudis

Former Obama Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes joined MSNBC’s Alex Wagner this week to discuss the recent reporting in the New York Times on the billions of dollars that Gulf Arab states have given Jared Kushner to manage.

“How does Kushner’s entanglement with someone like MBS compromise, potentially, I don’t know, the foreign policy platform of his father-in-law, who’s running to be the next president of the United States?” Wagner asked Rhodes about Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who has given Kushner’s firm some $2 billion.

“Well, in a word, entirely, Alex. I mean, look, this is not subtle corruption that we’re looking at. This is a guy, Jared Kushner, who had no expertise, no qualification whatsoever to be in the White House while he was there. He made it his account to work in the Gulf Arab states. He basically helped lead the cover-up for MBS. Get him in from the cold after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi,” Rhodes replied, adding:

And look, the Saudis didn’t make a $2 billion investment because they trusted in Jared Kushner’s investment expertise. Today, does anybody in the world believe that $2 billion is based on an assessment that Jared Kushner is who you want to give your money to, to make a return? No, they’re making an investment. What they think he can do for them if there is a second Trump term. And basically what we can take from that investment is that in a second Trump term, US foreign policy in the Middle East and around the world will be made entirely with the interests of Mohammed bin Salman in mind.

“Yeah, I do wonder he’s also taking money from the Qataris who finance Hamas and have a sort of different role to play in the Middle Eastern conflict than, say, the Israeli investors, some of whom are in business with, in turn, the manufacturers of war machines, or at least the few war machines that are actually made in Israel,” Wagner added.

She then asked, “Do you think that complicates this in a way that neutralizes the issue? Or, I mean, how do you see that the fact that he is equally invested with or they are equally invested within the Qataris and the Israelis?”

“No, it just means it’s all for sale, Alex,” replied Rhodes, adding:

That’s all it means. It’s an auction, essentially. Right? And this is how other countries work, right? More corrupt, smaller countries, literally, where the president’s son in law is down the hall. That’s not a new phenomenon in the US. Essentially what you have is whoever is the highest bidder gets whatever they want, except in this case, it’s the global superpower, the United States of America.

And so I think what you can take from what Saudi Arabia and Qatar and other countries are doing is that they believe, based on their own experience of the first Trump term and their expectations for the second, that American foreign policy is essentially for sale. Whoever comes in with the highest price, gets what they want.

“And what’s so clear in the Times reporting is that these relationships that Kushner then cashed out on post-presidency were forged during the Trump administration. As an admin, former administration official yourself, can you talk to me about how out of the ordinary that kind of relationship building is inside the White House?” Wagner asked.

“Well, I mean, you could tell at the time, Alex, what he was doing. I mean, he made it a point to work on these accounts. Right? And look, what’s very clear here is that Jared Kushner, you know, he chose certain issues to work on when he was in the White House,” Rhodes replied, adding:

He chose to work on issues in the Middle East, and he chose to work with the Gulf Arab states, knowing that the payout would be on the back end. And part of what’s so grotesque here, which we should name Alex, is that there’s literally an impeachment inquiry going on now in search of a rationale that doesn’t exist, that Hunter Biden somehow used his connection to his father to profit when Joe Biden was vice president, and they can’t find any evidence for it. And here we have the president’s son in law who worked in the White House, unlike hunter Biden, who’s collected $2 billion, on the back end of his service, now he’s got his, father in law running for president. United States. Right? This is not only unusual, this is unprecedented.

This is just putting a price tag on American foreign policy. This is a level of corruption that we’ve just never seen, and it’s hiding in plain sight. I mean, this is not subtle. This is 99% of his investors come from out of the United States. That is just saying that I’ve set up an entire investment fund designed to get me and my family rich, based on the fact that people are going to be purchasing influence in a second Trump term, while rewarding Jared Kushner for services well rendered in the first Trump term, when he basically ran interference from Mohammed bin Salman after he murdered somebody, an American, a U.S. person, a Washington Post journalist in a consulate in Turkey

Watch above via MSNBC.