The Kushner Files: 001 Kushner and the Prince, Friends with Benefits
Jared Kushner and Mohammed Bin Salman friends w/ benefits.
File 001: Kushner and the Crown Prince
Jared Kushner.
Son-in-law of the President of the United States. Scion of a failed real estate dynasty and a former Senior Advisor in the Whitehouse.
Jared Kushner is an enigma; he does not bear the Trump name, and with this as his camouflage, he has largely escaped the public scrutiny that follows most of the Trump family. Whether he is a Trump by name does not matter, because Jared Kushner is one of the most influential men the world has ever seen.
The Kushner files are an endeavor to lay bare the past and current actions of a man who has largely evaded accountability for numerous and ongoing crimes.
He is a man who has used wealth, leverage, abused his position in the White House, and the power of the presidency, and even crowned kings.
In File 001, we will examine the relationship between one of the most influential and important figures within the Trump White House. He is the foreign backer who has enabled Kushner for nearly a decade.
That Person is Mohammed Bin Salman, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia (MBS).
Kushner and the Prince
In 2017, Jared Kushner was serving as a senior advisor in the Trump Whitehouse. Trump never officially appointed an ambassador to Riyadh, but Jared would serve in this capacity unofficially. At times, even going as far as keeping his meetings with MBS secret from American intelligence circles and other White House officials.
Our story begins in 2017, when MBS was not the Crown Prince; he was just a prince. His ascendency to the throne uncertain, and his power by no means absolute in Saudi Arabia. The relationship between Kushner and MBS developed less as a diplomatic one, but as a personal or business arrangement.
Kushner, age 37, and MBS, age 33, reportedly became friends over lunch at the White House in March 2017.
We can only speculate on the nature of their discussion. Was it that moment that they began to hatch a plot that would see Mohammed Bin Salam ascend to the throne?
The nature of their meeting suggests that this was a terrible moment of chance, in which the world saw two men meet, and so the world became more violent and corrupt because of it.
After this meeting, they would begin to message each other regularly over discreet messaging apps and have regular private phone conversations.
Trump is even quoted as saying that it was “insane” how often the two spoke.
Alarm bells were certainly ringing in the intelligence community, and the relationship development was actually fairly well documented.
These quotes from unnamed Intelligence officials from a 2018 Newsweek article describe how the global community viewed Kushner and MBS at the time.
President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, resembles Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whom he’s cozied up to, in being “power-hungry” and inexperienced in government
The intelligence officials keeping tabs on the crown prince before he assumed that title in June 2017 “assessed him as a naive, inexperienced and ambitious upstart who was not prepared for a position of great power,”
“They said they heard an echo of Mohammed in Kushner,” the report says. “Here, too, was a young, power-hungry ‘prince’ with no track record in government.”
Shortly after their meeting, it is now clear that the two quickly went about what I consider to be the most formative stage in their relationship, and where Kushner gained a title that makes a weak and conniving man sound powerful. “Kingmaker”
Kingmaker
MBS was not the only one who might ascend to the throne, and in fact, he was not the one to be tapped when the time came. In 2017, when the two met, the official U.S.-backed player was Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef (MBN). At the time, MBN was considered the U.S. establishment’s man in Riyadh and had been a long-time trusted partner in the region.
MBS knew that if he were to be Crown Prince, he would need the backing of the United States and to remove MBN. In Kushner, he saw that opportunity, and looking at the events that followed, Kushner was more than willing to help.
MBN was not just another prince; he was considered the CIA’s closest Saudi ally. Mike Pompeo, the CIA director at the time, had even given him a medal. MBN was even referred to as “the favorite Saudi.”
By all standards, the United States had no reason to look for another “favorite”. MBN was reliable and had demonstrated his willingness to work with the United States in its ongoing war on terror. The aforementioned meeting in March 2017 took place at a time when MBN's supporters were away, primarily among them Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who was in Asia.
Following the meeting with Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner, the following series of events would elevate MBS to power.
June 2017 Ouster of MBN: MBN, the sitting Crown Prince, was summoned by King Salman and forced to step down in a “Godfather, Saudi-style” palace coup. He was subsequently placed under house arrest, his personal guards replaced, effectively removed from the world stage.
November 2017 “Purge”: MBS, now Crown Prince, launched a supposed “anti-corruption crackdown,” detaining approximately 350 princes, ministers, and businessmen in the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh. This move, endorsed by President Trump on Twitter, eliminated the remaining power centers and rivals to MBS.
In a matter of months, MBS had consolidated power; MBN, the United States’ favorite Saudi, was removed, and the power structures within Saudi Arabia were firmly seated under the new Crown Prince and Prime Minister, MBS.
These events themselves do not directly implicate Kushner; however, if we look at the months leading up to the “royal purge,” Kushner’s involvement becomes undeniable.
Weeks before the purge in late October, Kushner discreetly made a trip to Riyadh for a late-night meeting to speak with the Crown Prince.
A week later, MBS initiated an “anti-corruption crackdown,” and among the arrested were those mentioned in a daily classified brief to which Kushner had access before he lost his clearance.
A report from The Times of Israel in November 2018 makes it clear that MBS was not discreet about his privileged relationship with Kushner. It even confirms that Kushner shared classified intelligence with MBS before the crackdown.
“According to the report, Mohammed told confidants that he and Kushner discussed Saudis identified in the classified brief as disloyal to Mohammed.”
“The Saudi crown prince bragged to the United Arab Emirates Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed and others that he had Kushner “in his pocket,”
“Senior Western official and a source close to the Saudi royal family claiming that Kushner has communicated directly with both the Saudi and Emirati crown princes on WhatsApp, a popular messaging app owned by Facebook.”
Ultimately, what we saw unfold was a proxy war within the U.S. deep state, an early indicator of the corruption and power that private interests, such as Kushner and Trump, sought to replace the established U.S. foreign policy norms.
The ascension of MBS did not bode well for the CIA, the State Department, or the Department of Defense; all of these institutions had spent many years building a successful, embedded partnership with MBN.
MBNs' own intelligence, collected from calls between Kushner and MBS, indicates that they discussed the royal succession.
With MBS now in power, Kushner was a reformer, spearheading the building of a diplomatic relationship with the new crown prince. With an IOU from the Crown Prince of one of the wealthiest nations on earth, Kushner could now go about his duties as one of the primary diplomats representing the United States in the Middle East.
From lunch at the White House to a royal coup, Kushner and Mohammed Bin Salam turned a Prince into a Crown Prince. Dismantled the CIA’s, DOD’s, and State Departments ’ existing networks in Saudi Arabia and shifted the power dynamic to one that landed squarely within his control.
The Killing of Jamal Khashoggi
On October 2nd, 2018, U.S. Resident and Washington Post Columnist Jamal Khashoggi was brutally murdered and dismembered in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.
Initially, claims from Saudi Arabia’s officials were that it was rogue agents, but U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA, stated with confidence that MBS himself had ordered the killing.
Even Senator Lindsey Graham is on record stating, “zero chance — zero — that this happened without the crown prince.”
Kushner did not back the US intelligence agencies; he immediately began damage control. At this point, MBS and Kushner were on a first-name basis and texted regularly.
A 2018 article from American Journal News demonstrates that Kushner was pressuring Trump to stand by MBS despite US agencies affirming that it was MBS himself who had ordered the brutal killing of Khashoggi.
“Inside the White House, Mr. Kushner has continued to argue that the president needs to stand by Prince Mohammed because he remains essential to the administration’s broader Middle East strategy, according to people familiar with the deliberations,” reports the Times.
The New York Times reported that Kushner “offered the crown prince advice about how to weather the storm”.
This event created a heated conflict within the United States Government, the CIA, Congress, and the State Department, arguing that MBS’s actions compromised U.S. interests and that he should be held accountable. Ultimately, Kushner and Trump swept the affair under the rug, and the matter was eventually dropped.
This is another example of Kushner’s loyalty to MBS, covering up brutal murders of U.S. residents in the name of the interests of the State; however, it is abundantly clear that his motives were largely personal. Kushner had much to gain by keeping MBS in power, and the language of capital is one that Jared and Mohammed Bin Salman spoke well.
In 2024, Kushner still openly denied high-level Intelligence shown by reporting from The Associated Press
“Are we really still doing this?” Kushner at first said when he was asked if he believed the conclusions from U.S. intelligence.
“I know the person who I dealt with. I think he’s a visionary leader. I think what he’s done in that region is transformational,” Kushner said.
At the time of Khashoggi’s murder, MBS was in dire straits, and the United States could very well have pushed for regime change. MBS’s Vision 2030 plan, a series of mega projects costing billions, was on the verge of collapse, and the Saudi economy was shaky.
Thanks to Kushner, MBS was able to maintain power, and for all things, there is a price. For Kushner, that price was 2 billion.
The Two Billion Dollar Investment
For years, Kushner had stuck his neck out for MBS; he had helped him orchestrate a royal coup and get away with the high-profile murder of an American Resident in the face of overwhelming and credible American intelligence.
Kushner called in his favor shortly after leaving the White House in 2021. Jared and a group of other former White House advisors from the 2016 Trump administration formed a new private equity firm. A Financial Management firm, LLC, called Affinity Partners.
Kushner sought backing from the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund, the Saudi PIF, and ultimately secured a 2 billion dollar investment, covering two-thirds of the total start-up costs.
This alone is not a red flag; however, when you consider that it was not the PIF that awarded them this money, but MBS, things become clearer.
Internal PIF documents cite that the funds’ due diligence panel rejected Kushner’s deal, citing two factors.
“The inexperience of managing the Affinity Fund”. Kushner and his team had no track record in private equity.
“The possibility of the Kingdom being responsible for most of the funds in investments and risks”. The $2 billion stake was deemed disproportionately large and risky.
Kushner’s firm was so new that its response to these concerns was reportedly that it would hire financial experts after receiving the first $500 million installment.
Despite this formal rejection, MBS personally stepped in, overruling the panel's decision and secured Kushner’s 2 billion dollar investment.
Internally, the PIF described the deal as high-risk and imprudent, given that the decision was made against the panel's advice. It appears that this was a reward for Kushner's loyalty.
We will cover Affinity Partners more in later files, but it is essential to note this as it is a key moment in defining the Kushner-MBS relationship.
A Healthy and Ongoing Partnership
Kushner and Mohammed Bin Salman’s relationship is not strictly historical; it is active and ongoing. MBS is visiting the White House on November 18th, 2025, his first visit since the murder of Khashoggi. MBS was in Riyadh the weekend of November 15th, laying the groundwork for the meeting itself. The topic of discussion for the upcoming meeting is the acquisition of 48 F-35 fighter jets, and Trump is signaling that he will oblige the Crown Prince and Prime Minister.
However, a massive-scale deal has recently been made possible thanks to Kushner and his alliance with MBS.
Kushner was indispensable in orchestrating the largest leveraged buyout in history. Already a 9.9% shareholder in the video game giant Electronic Arts (EA), which is responsible for household games like Madden NFL, Battlefield, and The Sims, the PIF sought to take full ownership of the company.
However, a foreign sovereign wealth fund cannot simply acquire a major US game company, and so MBS collected interest on its Affinity Partners investment.
Using a cover strategy, Kushner was able to facilitate the $55 billion buyout, allowing MBS to add the company, which was part of his Vision 2030 goal to “scale its gaming arm, Savvy Gaming Group,”.
Silver Lake: A major U.S. private equity firm, serving as the “lead” on the LBO.
The Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF): The real buyer. The PIF is the “majority control” holder in the buyout and was already the largest insider stakeholder in EA, with a 9.9% stake it will roll over into the deal.
Affinity Partners (Jared Kushner): The “political cover.” Kushner’s firm holds a “minimal 5 percent equity position” in the deal.
Crucially, here, Kushner serves as an enabler—his relationship with Saudi royalty is less than unique.
It was to the Crown Prince of the UAE Mohammed Bin Zayed (MBZ) that MBS bragged about having Kushner in his pocket suggesting that Kushner’s services or maybe better put his use is not a closely guarded secret.
There are reports that U.S. officials, in 2018, had intelligence that officials from the UAE—along with China, Israel, and Mexico— privately discussed ways they can manipulate Jared Kushner
Affinity Partners can be tied to the majority of the Arab Petrostates, including Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. It is no surprise that we find Kushner at the center of negotiations in Gaza; if one looks closely, one would see the all-too-familiar Affinity Partners deeply involved.
Conclusion
Kushner is many things, but above all, he is desperate. He has a history of failure, and he has spent his life trying to outrun the shadows of his past and the failures of his present. Yet everywhere he goes, he finds himself under a thumb. I question whether it is because he desperately wants to be a king, so he seeks them out so that he might one day be recognized as “one of them”. Or is it simply that Jared is an opportunist?
I am unsure. Perhaps, as I type the last of the Kushner files, I will have a better answer for you.
However, one thing I am certain of is that Kushner is an enabler. Jared Kushner poses a danger to America, threatening our economy, liberty, and global stability. That is clear from his actions, as discussed in this file, and will become even clearer as we delve deeper into Jared's past and present.
The key takeaway here is that we must be extremely cautious of foreign investment. It is clear that, through Kushner, MBS has invested billions in American markets. This poses a threat to our economy, as it allows foreign entities to acquire and own American companies without proper disclosure or due process.
I want to be clear that what Kushner is facilitating, while it appears pseudo-legal by design, is anything but. America needs a system to hold criminal brokers like Kushner accountable.
Thank you for reading.
End– File 001
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Shane
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Shane I am breathless. Have just woken up here in Europe to read this. Thank you for exposing this craven weakling hiding behind his father in law’s skirts. The mere fact that he was instrumental in sweeping the murder of Khashoggi under the carpet makes me feel ill. This pathetic excuse for a human being will fall, along with his monstrous father and his regime. And then watch as MBS tosses him and their “agreements” onto the dung heap. Keep up the good work my friend. Between you and Ellie Leonard, the dirty tunnels beneath the regime are collapsing.
Really good article,Shane.
People need to know this.
Our own country.s integrity and security are slowly bleeding out.
Because of this awful lead family and by several different names.