... Tim Mulvey, communications director for the Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, tells me, “The Foreign Affairs Committee will conduct a top-to-bottom review of American policy toward Saudi Arabia, including what drove the administration’s response to the Khashoggi murder.” He adds, "No specific hearings have been scheduled yet, but nothing is off the table.”
In the course of the investigation, the committee may want to call public hearings and subpoena all relevant documents regarding Trump’s financial interests and benefits relating to the House of Saud, Kushner’s business interests relating to Saudi Arabia and why, despite public evidence that he was being manipulated by foreign governments, he continued to play such a critical role in foreign policy. (“Officials in at least four countries have privately discussed ways they can manipulate Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, by taking advantage of his complex business arrangements, financial difficulties and lack of foreign policy experience, according to current and former U.S. officials familiar with intelligence reports on the matter,” The Post reported in February. “Among those nations discussing ways to influence Kushner to their advantage were the United Arab Emirates, China, Israel and Mexico, the current and former officials said.”)
It’s not hard to figure out how the United States became effectively the junior partner in the U.S.-Saudi relationship. “Donald Trump runs his White House like a Middle East dictator,” says Brian Katulis of the Center for American Progress. “His move to empower his son-in-law on many fronts including Middle East policy is just one example of it — and this nepotism helps explain the bad results America has gotten under Trump.” He adds, “Kushner and his team squandered the leverage the United States has with countries like Saudi Arabia, which depend heavily on the U.S. security umbrella to survive. Instead of pressing a newly assertive Saudi Arabia to serve as a source of stability and genuine reform, the Trump administration gave MBS a blank check — unconditional support no matter what, including murdering a journalist.”
One would be tempted to say that, in any other administration, Kushner would be fired for rotten judgment and perpetuating, at a minimum, the appearance of a conflict of interest. But, of course, it’s hard to imagine a 37-year-old old real estate scion with no government experience and no foreign policy experience working in such a high-level post in any other administration. Like I said, don’t hire relatives — especially incompetent and foolish ones. ...
