Is Jared Kushner a 'walking conflict of interest'?

Dexter Filkins, a Pulitzer Prize-winning staff writer for The New Yorker, recently sat down to discuss his investigative piece, "Jared Kushner's Dollar Diplomacy." The article delves into the unprecedented and often controversial role Jared Kushner played during the Trump administration, particularly his simultaneous engagement in American foreign policy and his private business ventures backed by foreign capital.

The Dual Role of Jared Kushner

Filkins begins by explaining the core of his investigation: Jared Kushner's unique position as both an unpaid diplomat for the U.S. government and a manager of a large private equity fund. "He's wearing two hats right now," Filkins states. On one hand, Kushner served as a diplomat, an agent for American foreign policy and the White House under President Trump. On the other, he managed a private equity fund with several billion dollars, nearly all of which was gathered from foreign countries and their sovereign wealth funds. This dual role, Filkins argues, creates a "walking conflict of interest."

Filkins challenges the White House's position that because Kushner was unpaid, there was no conflict of interest. He asserts that this argument "strains credulity." According to government ethics professors and lawyers Filkins consulted, the crucial factor is that Kushner was acting as a government employee and an agent of the United States government, regardless of whether he was drawing a salary. This is a fundamental principle that, as Filkins notes, wouldn't have even been debated a decade ago.