The Office of Government Ethics (OGE) revealed on Monday that the White House is investigating whether Jared Kushner broke any laws or regulations by reportedly taking White House meetings with businesses that later loaned money to his family’s business.
The New York Times reported in February that Kushner met with Joshua Harris, a founder of Apollo Global Management, several times at the White House while Harris was advising the administration and in talks for a job at the White House. In November, Apollo loaned the Kushner Companies $184 million. Kushner also met with Citigroup CEO Michael Corbat not long before Citigroup loaned the Kushner Companies $325 million, according to the New York Times.
Earlier in March, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) wrote to OGE asking whether Kushner’s meetings with companies who later loaned money to his family presented a ethics issues for the top White House aide.
In a March 22 letter responding to Krishnamoorthi made public on Monday, OGE Director David Apol said that Kushner’s loans and meetings were worth investigating and that the White House had already launched a probe.
“I have discussed this matter with the White House Counsel’s Office in order to ensure that they have begun the process of ascertaining the facts necessary to determine whether any law or regulation has been violated and whether any additional procedures are necessary to avoid violations in the future,” Apol wrote. “During that discussion, the White House informed me that they had already begun this process.”
Abbe Lowell, Kushner’s attorney, told the Wall Street Journal that “the White House counsel concluded there was were no issues involving Jared” and said that Jared Kushner had nothing to do with the loans.
Both Apollo and Citigroup have said that the loans went through the standard approval processes.
Read Apol’s letter:
Fast forward 9 weeks:
“The Office of Government Ethics (OGE) revealed on Monday that the White House is investigating whether Jared Kushner broke any laws or regulations by reportedly taking White House meetings with businesses that later loaned money to his family’s business.”
Ya think?
Standard procedure in these inquiries is for both parties to say yes, they met, but nothing related to Kushner’s businesses or the loans were discussed. Additionally, it’s asserted the lending institution’s officers that OK’d the loans were not in the meetings, nor were they privy to anything discussed in the meetings. Lacking a recording, or a whistleblower present in the meetings willing to testify to the contrary, everyone is off the hook. The lone accusation that might stick at that point is the appearance of impropriety. No one goes to jail for that, nor do they ever suffer significant sanctions or penalties otherwise.
In re David Apol: Former OGE head Walter Shaub criticized the appointment of Apol, saying “moves like [Apol’s history of advocating for consultation with the White House prior to issuing policies] jeopardize O.G.E.'s independence.”
Say no more, say no more. Nudge, nudge…
When you assign a fox to investigate the hen house, they rarely ever find any evidence of predators eating the hens.