Charles Kushner confirmed that he met Qatar’s minister of finance months after his son joined the White House, but claimed that he did not ask the Middle Eastern nation’s government for money.
“I was invited to a meeting,” he told the Washington Post. “Before the meeting, Kushner Companies had decided that it was not going to accept sovereign wealth fund investments. We informed the Qatar representatives of our decision and they agreed. Even if they were there ready to wire the money, we would not have taken it.”
The Intercept broke news of the meeting, which took place in April 2017 at the St. Regis hotel in Manhattan, earlier this month and reported that Kushner asked the minister to fund its struggling office tower 666 Fifth Avenue.
Kushner was previously in talks to land a $500 million investment from Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al Thani, one of Qatar’s richest men and a former prime minister, but the deal fell through. Chinese insurer Anbang Insurance Group also backed out of negotiations to redevelop 666 Fifth. [WaPo] — Konrad Putzier