Kushner On Khashoggi: ‘We Have To Be Able To Work With Our Allies’

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly (L) and White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner step off Air Force One upon return to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on October 8, 2018. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) ... White House Chief of Staff John Kelly (L) and White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner step off Air Force One upon return to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on October 8, 2018. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

White House senior adviser Jared Kushner said Monday that the Trump administration has its eyes “wide open” regarding the death and suspected murder of Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. But, Kushner emphasized, “we have to be able to work with our allies.”

“Right now, as an administration, we’re more in the fact-finding phase, and we’re obviously getting as many facts as we can from the different places, and then we’ll determine which facts are credible, and then, after that, the President and the Secretary of State will make a determination as to what we deem to be credible, and what actions we think we should take,” Kushner told CNN’s Van Jones in a live interview at the “Citizen by CNN” festival.

“I’ll also say that we have to be able to work with our allies,” Kushner continued, before crediting Saudi Arabia as “a very strong ally in terms of pushing back against Iran’s aggression.”

“We have to be able to pursue our strategic objectives, but we also have to deal with, obviously, what seems to be a terrible situation,” he added.

Asked by Jones if he trusted the Saudis to investigate themselves, Kushner said “We’re getting facts in from multiple places.” Kushner recalled telling Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman “just to be transparent” and “the world is watching.”

At the beginning of Jones’ questions on Saudi Arabia, he told Kushner: “you’ve got, also on your plate, the Middle East.”

Kushner corrected that résumé item: “I don’t have the Middle East. I was given the Middle East peace process between the Israelis and the Palestinians, and I’ve dealt with a lot of the other regional partners in that effort.”

He added, after crediting other members of the Trump foreign policy team: “I have one small component of it.”

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for jtx jtx says:

    He meant Banker.

  2. Perhaps Golden Boy ought to ask why we would want such an “ally?” (Aside from his personal financial interests of course.)

  3. Avatar for kiwi kiwi says:

    ‘We’ll determine which facts are credible’. A bit of a giveaway mate - all facts are credible, even if very many of them are unpalatable.

  4. Kushner is an integral part of the grift that is the Trump Presidency. As a member of the Trump Crime Family, Kushner’s ultimate concern is how to personally profit on anything he does on “behalf” of this country.

  5. The fact-finding phase already happened, Kush. Everyone and their brother knows “the facts.” That you don’t give a sh*t is something else entirely.

    But, Kushner emphasized, “we have to be able to profit off of our allies.”

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

102 more replies

Participants

Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for sysprog Avatar for old_curmudgeon Avatar for ajileye Avatar for blandsten Avatar for cervantes Avatar for economides Avatar for rollinnolan Avatar for sandyh Avatar for progress Avatar for lastroth Avatar for dickweed Avatar for katwillow Avatar for zd123 Avatar for texastwostep Avatar for dommyluc Avatar for maricaibo Avatar for bodie1 Avatar for birdford Avatar for redemptionsong Avatar for drtv Avatar for busdrivermike Avatar for dougsanders Avatar for leeblzm

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: