Forget Hunter Biden, what about Jared and Ivanka’s grift?

can you remember the summer of 2012 more than a decade ago the Olympics were kicking off in London Mitt Romney Was preparing to challenge Barack Obama for the presidency and two of Donald Trump's kids were at the center of a criminal investigation against them yes really Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr it's a story few people know happened and it begins in lower Manhattan located in the center of Manhattan Chic artist Enclave the Trump International Hotel and Tower in SoHo is the site of my latest development Trump's new hotel which technically wasn't even in SoHo was completed just before the 2008 Great Recession marketing was tailored to overseas investors including quote a lot of money pouring in from Russia Donald Trump Jr told a reporter in 2008 it was also the first big project they're coming out if you will for Ivanka Trump and Don Jr possess your own Soho red ads for the time shares showing Ivanka lounging over the Manhattan skyline conveniently there were Russian translations and according to Ivanka and Don Jr there were plenty of eager buyers for the units which started at 1.2 million dollars she told Reuters in mid-2008 as the real estate market was barreling towards the crash that about 60 of the units had already been sold and the project had seen constant demand since sales began the only problem that wasn't true it wasn't close to true according to a 2017 joint investigative report by propublica the New Yorker and WNYC Trump were forced to disclose that less than 16 percent of the units had been sold in 2010. Ivanka and Don Jr had been inflating that number by as much as 300 percent to potential buyers and it didn't just happen once according to that joint reporting Manhattan prosecutors began investigating around 2010 and found dozens of emails that they say showed Ivanka and Don Jr allegedly goading people to invest with the inflated numbers and with false suggestions of a hot Market run so what happened why were the Trump kids never prosecuted for alleged felony fraud and larsening an investigation that went on for two years well remember this fellow Mark kasowitz was one of Trump's lawyers during the Mueller investigation but before all that he represented the Trump family in the case of trump Soho finding all sorts of ways to work the refs if you will detailed by that joint investigation like donating twenty five thousand dollars in January 2012 to Manhattan district attorney Sai Vance which Vance would end up returning prior to kasowitz paying him a visit in May of that year in hopes of having the case dropped a meeting that advanced Deputy called premature given the state of the Trump investigation premature or not within a couple of months of that meeting the DA's office said it would drop the investigation into Don Jr and Ivanka less than six months later Castlewood sent even more money to the DA's campaign Castle would end up donating more than thirty thousand dollars to Vance's re-election Bid And just before Election Day 2013 kasowitz even hosted a fundraiser for Vance as well it didn't look good and by 2017 after this Trump Soho story broke Vance was telling the New York Times that he had returned kasowitz's money and said he dropped the investigation because the victims refused to cooperate that's why but at the end of the day in 2012 with Trump Soho the Trump family seemed to get what they wanted Ivanka and Don Jr reportedly avoided a felony criminal indictment now if members of the Trump family could get away with this alleged fraud as private citizens just imagine the things they could get away with after Inauguration Day 2017 when they entered government of course you don't have to imagine Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump took in hundreds of millions of dollars in outside income during their time as members of the government as White House advisors somewhere between 172 and 640 million dollars according to an analysis of financial disclosures by the ethics Watchdog crew and just for good measure Kushner got another two billion dollars of investment money from Saudi Arabia after leaving the White House yes two billion dollars with a B a lot of people probably haven't heard these stories about Trump's daughter and his son-in-law which is interesting considering how many people these days have heard the name Hunter Biden yes the son of the current Democratic president with whom Republicans have been obsessed in a birtherism Benghazi Hillary emails kind of way yes Hunter Biden who just last week pled guilty to two misdemean accounts of tax evasion and a felony Firearms charge for crimes dating back to 2017 and 2018. a plea deal broke it and accepted by the Trump appointed U.S attorney in Delaware to be clear Hunter Biden is far from any kind of paragon of virtue he did a lot of dodgy things including trading off his last name and his dad's various government job titles to make money for himself he had no business for example being on the board of Ukrainian energy firm and yes he has since admitted to crimes but none of that justifies the GOP obsession with Hunter Biden the sprawling outlandish conspiracy theories that the GOP have constructed around Hunter and Joe Biden without any evidence the Biden crime family they say used the Biden doj to get Hunter a sweetheart deal and prevent the world from finding out that the big guy Joe Biden took bribes accusations for which they've not been able to provide any hard evidence for Republicans the ultimate crime here seems to be nepotism if you're the son of the president you don't get any jail time rules are for thee not for me when your last name is the children of the people in charge there are no penalties there are only upsides they're Prince links they can do what they want if your name is Biden you can defy the law with impunity two different sets of rules depending on whether you're a member in good standing of elite Society or not this does not happen if Hunter's last name is anything other than Biden anyone else in America whose last name isn't Biden or Clinton would have gone to jail for once they have a point it's true that people do get off easy for having the right name but the name we should be looking for isn't just Biden it's also Trump because unlike Hunter Biden the private citizen who has never worked for any government domestic or foreign Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner have gotten off scot-free for their open grift and alleged corruption while serving in government and don't just take it from me take it from Chris Christie long time friend turned belated enemy of Donald Trump the grift from this family is breathtaking it's breathtaking Jared Kushner and Ivanka Kushner walk out of the White House and months later get two billion dollars from the Saudis two billion dollars from the Saudis you think it's because he's some kind of investing genius or do you think it's because he was sitting next to the president United States for four years doing favors for the Saudis I can't believe I'm saying this but Chris Christie is right and Christy is someone who knows a thing or two about the kushner's because in 2005 Christie was the U.S attorney who prosecuted Jared kushner's dad financier Charles Kushner for 18 counts of illegal campaign contributions tax evasion and witness tampering the witness he tampered with was his own brother-in-law his wife's husband he admitted to entrapment by hiring a prostitute for that brother-in-law and he then sent a video of the encounter to his own sister Charming guy but in 2020 the Elder Kushner got a presidential pardon from one Donald J Trump par for the course in what some might call the Trump crime family whose own twice indicted patriarch currently leads Republican primary polling with 51 of the vote according to a new NBC News poll a poll taken after Trump was arraigned in federal court under charges stemming from the Espionage Act still all we hear out of Republicans is what about Hunter what about the Biden crime family today I want to focus on the Trump family members and their alleged corruption because they might be back in the white house as senior advisors again 18 months from now Hunter Biden on the other hand never was in government and isn't in danger of joining any government ever and yet he's the main GOP Obsession of the moment living rent free in the Republican hive mind while jivanka well they get a pass but uh not from me not from this show not today let's start with the Trump's favorite senior advisor let's start with Donald Trump's fave Ivanka not only did she bring her Napo baby status to the White House but she also brought in a nice roster of potential conflicts of interest including her ownership stake in the Trump DC Hotel conveniently located just five blocks away from the White House but she promised us on television that her business interests would not interfere with her role in the administration I understand the obligation on me to avoid conflicts of interest and I take that seriously well there you go people back in early 2017 Ivanka was very clear when it came to the Trump DC Hotel she takes conflicts of interest seriously never mind that the hotel opened under her leadership right before her father took office she said she was stepping away from the hotel and her family business the Trump organization when she joined the white house but the ethics Watchdog crew found from Financial disclosures that Ivanka earned over 13 million dollars from her stake in the Trump DC Hotel during her time in the White House sounds like she scored a nice sweetheart deal oh no that's what under Biden got say Republicans now in a world where Ivanka was a private citizen you know like Hunter Biden her personal gains from the hotel might not be up for discussion but again Ivanka was a senior advisor to the president and that becomes particularly important when you consider the fact that during the Trump Administration foreign officials spent over seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars at the DC Hotel according to the house oversight committee not a bad way to earn a few brownie points right before a big meeting with a White House official right oh Ivanka we just slept so well down the street in those gorgeous ten thousand dollar rooms of yours last night Trump's son Eric a top executive of the Trump organization said the company donated the profits from foreign money to the U.S treasury but ethics Watchdogs pointed out a pretty big loophole if foreign officials spent money at unprofitable Trump properties there was no pledge for that money to go to the treasury no that would go straight to the trumps okay so clearly Ivanka is into serious it should have you believe when it comes to conflicts of interest tied to the family business but surely she must be a little more careful when it comes to her own brand right ha of course not in fact according to crew in November 2016 the day after her father won the presidency ivanka's fashion line filed for trademarks in Japan the very next week she joined her father at a face-to-face Trump Tower meeting with there you see him Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe raising immediate conflict of interest concerns before the trumps had even reached the White House Republicans right now are obsessed with a WhatsApp message from 2017 in which Hunter Biden claims to be sitting next to his father we have no idea if he was or not while he Hunter rather forcefully asks a Chinese businessman to go through with a business deal they're up in arms about that and yet we have a picture of Ivanka and her dad in the room with a foreign leader days after Ivanka filed for trademarks in that foreign Leader's country but nothing to see here am I right by the way Joe Biden wasn't even vice president when that message from Hunter was sent and if ivanka's Trump Tower meeting sound deeply questionable deeply deeply questionable wait till you hear this Russia yes Russia also renewed two trademarks for Ivanka a month before the 2016 election you know the one Russia was accused of interfering in in favor of trump oh and Russia wasn't the only foreign adversary ivanka's trademarks had a stake in no her Ambitions traveled all the way to the second biggest economy in the world China yeah the same China that under bite into being involved in a country the far right insists has improperly given millions of dollars to the Biden family despite there still being no evidence that anyone in the Biden family acted improperly or violated any laws but you know what we do have documentation of a night in 2017 where Ivanka and Jared Kushner as well as other Trump officials dined with Chinese president Xi Jinping and his wife at president Trump's Mar-A-Lago Resort that same day Ivanka was awarded three new trademarks from China the same day and there would be more trademarks to come as the New York Times reported China approved five more Ivanka trademarks in early May of 2018 and just Days Later president Trump after all his attacks on Chinese companies announced that he was going to help save Chinese Telecom giant ZTE from shutting down this was despite the fact that the US had just banned business with ZTE due to the company's dealings with North Korea and Iran Trump went on to reach a deal that would lift that ban just days after China awarded Ivanka with two more new trademarks must be nice to be a what's the word Republicans use influence Peddler awake that's what they're saying about Hunter Biden not Ivanka Trump my bad now ivanka's business at the time said it needed the trademarks to protect herself against third parties trying to capitalize on the name which in a way makes sense I mean if your dad becomes president and hires you as a White House official your name will conveniently become all the more profitable Ivanka would end up shutting down her business in mid-2018 amid all the questions around conflicts of interest but that didn't stop the money from flowing in crew reported that in the year after shutting down her company the year after she shut it down Ivanka Trump still managed to make somewhere between one hundred thousand dollars and one million dollars through the trust that held those trademarks it seems Ivanka Trump wasn't just looking out for her own interests her multi-millionaire husband Jared Kushner also appears to have benefited from ivanka's how should I put it advocacy like the time she promoted a tax break for developers including a company with a 50 million dollar investment from her husband Jared that earned them a complaint to the doj from the Watchdog group crew over their alleged violations of conflict of interest laws the complaint ultimately went nowhere a spokesperson for the couple's legal team said at the time Ms Trump is proud of her work on this legislation and she adheres to the ethics advice she has received from Council so let's be clear when a trump-appointed attorney does a plea deal with Hunter Biden Republicans accused the Biden doj of protecting Biden's son but when things that look like ethics violations by jivanka don't end up going anywhere that's not the Trump doj protecting the president's daughter and son-in-law how convenient but let's talk son-in-law let's talk Jared because the former first son-in-law Kushner Rose to become one of Donald Trump's top presidential advisors despite a clear lack of qualifications and a ton of financial baggage as soon as Trump won in 2016 Krishna joined the presidential transition team he got rid of his father's Nemesis Chris Christie and like his equally unqualified wife went on to become a senior presidential advisor and then in the white house we finally heard him speak to the press in his underwhelming way I am so grateful for the opportunity to work on important matters such as Middle East peace and reinvigorating America's Innovative spirit every day I come to work with enthusiasm and excitement for what can be he had enthusiasm and excitement but as I said zero experience and also no toxic not no top secret security clearance a job requirement his application was denied by career officials with a White House whistleblower revealing Kushner had too many significant disqualifying factors to receive a clearance one of those factors was his debt he owed 1.2 billion dollars from a loan used to purchase a skyscraper at 666 Fifth Avenue in New York at a steep markup in 2006 just before the housing bubble burst brilliant man Jared Kushner it's exactly the sort of debt that can get a security clearance rejected because it makes the debtor vulnerable to Blackmail or to pay for play remember that real estate deal it'll come up again shortly but a Kushner Confidant told NBC News another reason Jared's clearance was held up he initially failed to disclose his prior contacts with at least 100 foreign officials including a December 2016 meeting with the Russian Ambassador that aroused the interests of special prosecutor Robert Mueller now remember Trump's National Security advisor at the Time Michael Flynn was forced to resign after he was caught concealing his contacts with the Russians but Krishna wasn't fired instead according to the New York Times internal memos showed president Trump overruled concerned officials and ordered them to give Kushner his security clearance what could have been behind Donald Trump's decision to save the job of the man who was married to his daughter can't possibly imagine Jared would go on to use his post to establish contacts with foreign leaders who also just happened to be in a position to help Jared's bottom line remember Trump's first presidential trip to Saudi Arabia bowing to the Saudi king and touching the orb the highlight of that trip was a 110 billion dollar deal to sell the Saudis American military weapons that was a deal personally broken by Jared Kushner per the New York Times including a sticker price discount for the Saudis it was about that time that Krishna began communicating through back Channels with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as the prince Consolidated his power over the country people familiar told the Washington Post that those contacts led the exasperated Secretary of State at the time Rex Tillerson to complain quote who is Secretary of State here funny he should ask that because the month before Trump's Saudi visit Jared kushner's dad remember him the ex-con who blackmailed his brother-in-law met with the Finance Minister of the neighboring Gulf country of Qatar seeking money to prop up its purchase his company's purchase of six six's Fifth Avenue that money bleeding Skyscraper the deal fell through with the qataris and that may Jared Kushner flew with Trump on his trip to Sarah Arabia and talked with Saudi and emirati leaders about secret plans to impose a blockade on Qatar a blockade that then became a reality with Trump's blessing a man with no experience who couldn't get a security clearance reportedly helping to Greenlight a Middle East blockade against a U.S Ally Qatar who had just recently declined to help out his ailing real estate company Jesse had that kind of juice in fact some Qatari officials believe the blockade was retaliation by Kushner multiple sources told NBC News at the time by the following year 2018 the Kushner companies had secured an investment that would lease their trouble building at 666 Fifth Avenue for 1.2 billion dollars exactly what they owed on it who was the investor an asset fund backed by here you guessed it the government of Qatar I'm to Biden and brisma have got nothing on this by then multiple current and former White House officials told the Washington Post that officials in at least four countries have privately discussed ways they can manipulate Jared Kushner by taking advantage of his complex business Arrangements four countries but Krishna above all else had eyes for the Saudis and for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman they continued to carry on a back Channel dialogue even as MBS cracked down on his challenges at home even as the U.S turned up evidence that MBS ordered the murder and dismemberment of Jamal khashoggi a U.S based Washington Post columnist in fact Jared and MBS continued to chat privately against White House protocols that a National Security Council official must sit in on any talks with foreign leaders former White House and Saudi sources told the New York Times the two even communicated via WhatsApp even as evidence came out suggesting that MBS personally had used WhatsApp messages to compromise the phone of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos imagine if Hunter Biden had been caught doing something like that you can't because for all his sins he didn't work in government and then uses government job to get close to brutal world leaders that was Jared oh and you'll never guess what happened next after January the 6th after Trump's departure from the Oval Office the New York Times reporting that six months after leaving the White House Trump's son-in-law and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner secured himself a two billion dollar investment from a fund led by the Saudi Crown Prince not a bad way to return to private life am I right and Judd Kushner did not get that two billion dollars from the unelected autocratic ruler of a foreign dictatorship because of his financial prowess or his investing Acumen and you don't have to take my word for that take the word of mbs's own advisors they told their boss the Crown Prince that the investment wasn't a smart one according to documents reviewed by the New York Times they warned MBS that Kushner lacked experience that his new firm was quote unsatisfactory in all aspects and that Kushner wanted to charge them excessive fees but their warnings were overruled by the Crown Prince himself or as Jared Kushner reportedly called him on WhatsApp Muhammad why would the Crown Prince throw two billion dollars into a fund with all these red flags could it be because MBS sees it as a way to exercise influence over a key Trump family member and possible senior member of the next U.S Administration I don't know but to quote Kevin McCarthy on the topic of Hunter Biden none of it smells right no it doesn't I mean forget McCarthy not even Jim Jordan himself is accusing Hunter Biden of having the sort of relationship with a Chinese or a Ukrainian government official that Jared cultivated with the literal Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia I mean if Scandal obsessed Republicans are looking for a big guy this may be him Hunter Biden wishes he was Jared Kushner or Ivanka Trump he wishes he had their kind of power influence or Global Financial reach he wishes he was up against a political party in Congress that basically failed to hold him to account yes Democrats on Capitol Hill tell us they're investigating Jared's role in the Qatar blockade and the two billion dollars from the Saudis and shockingly house oversight Democrats say the Republicans have declined to join this investigation into possible presidential family corruption why aren't Democrats talking about this more committee back when Democrats control controlling the kind of show trial hearings on javanca that the House Republicans are currently holding on Hunter well how about the Senate finance committee still today run by democrats any fiery hearing from them on Jared's two billion dollars from the Saudis Democrats need to raise their game and Republicans need to stop being Hypocrites Hunter Biden is facing public shaming and criminal investigations while Jared and Ivanka are living their best lives boosted by those millions they made in office and those billions they since received from the Gulf how is that fair look the Republicans are right nobody should get away with corruption simply because their dad is the president nobody should get away with dodgy foreign dealing simply because of their last name but if Republicans are really concerned about all that then they have the wrong president the wrong family the wrong offspring [Music]

Channel: MSNBC

Views: 1,539,721

Keywords: Mehdi Hasan

Id: pM0Y_y6Wjl8

Length: 24min 33sec (1473 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 29 2023

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