Kushner rejects $2 billion foreign funding claim in new book

More than $2 billion in funds allegedly moved through bank accounts tied to Jared Kushner, according to an excerpt from a new book. The claim appears in an article published Thursday in Vanity Fair. It details allegations from a forthcoming work by journalist Matthew Cole titled "Princes and Thieves: Jared Kushner and Mohamed bin Zayed's Secret Plot to Remake the Middle East."

The book argues that Kushner accessed slush money funds from Middle Eastern leaders. It states the cash was intended to buy influence within the U.S. government. The excerpt covers Kushner's tenure as a senior White House adviser during the first Trump administration. In that role, he helped negotiate foreign policy deals involving Israel, the Gulf states, China, and Russia.

The text asserts that Dutch intelligence agents learned in 2017 that Russia had hacked Kushner's iPhone. The Dutch reportedly gained access to the device after turning a Russian spy. The account claims the agents could see his screen and capture every image he viewed. The spies allegedly watched him log into a United Arab Emirates account. That account supposedly received hundreds of millions of dollars from a bank in Azerbaijan.

The report further claims leaders of Saudi Arabia and the UAE placed at least $2 billion into several accounts linked to Kushner. One account was held at Israel's Central Bank. The owners and managers of those accounts were often presented as official government bodies or charities. The money was reportedly intended for off-the-books diplomatic objectives, such as brokering a deal to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The book cites a person with knowledge of the money who said Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman placed roughly $1 billion in at least one account for Kushner's personal benefit.

Kushner and his legal team denied the claims on Thursday night. Kushner called the allegations completely insane and said they never happened. He noted that his side denied every claim on the record, yet the author offered not a single shred of verifiable evidence. He stated that no bank statements, wire transfer records, account numbers, or transaction dates were provided. His attorney described the claims as false and defamatory and said they plan to pursue legal action against those responsible.

The White House directed inquiries to Steven Cheung, assistant to the president and White House director of communications. Cheung called the book complete fiction on the social media platform X. He described the author as a failed spy thriller writer and said the book presents no evidence or documentation. He added that it relies only on mysterious words from unnamed sources. CBS News has not independently verified the excerpt.