Money Grab/Charge for access to the president
Kushner’s Affinity manages $6.16B, mostly Gulf money, as he negotiates for Trump
Jared Kushner’s private-equity firm Affinity Partners, founded in 2021, took $2 billion from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and money from Qatar’s and the UAE’s sovereign funds; in December 2024 the Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi’s Lunate added $1.5 billion. By April 2026 it managed about $6.16 billion, 99% of it foreign.
What happened
Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and a first-term senior adviser, founded Affinity Partners in 2021. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund committed $2 billion over its own advisers’ objections, and Qatar’s and the UAE’s sovereign funds invested hundreds of millions more. In December 2024 the Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi’s Lunate added $1.5 billion, taking assets to $4.8 billion. Affinity collects fees on the money; through 2024 it had returned no profits.
In the second term Kushner has co-led the administration’s Middle East negotiations without a formal paid post. In March 2026 the New York Times reported he was seeking $5 billion or more in new money from Gulf sovereign funds. On March 19, Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. Robert Garcia demanded answers from the White House and Affinity.
On April 17, 2026, Rep. Jamie Raskin reported Affinity had about $6.16 billion under management, including $1.2 billion raised in 2025, with 99% from foreign investors, and asked for a subpoena. Affinity said it had held “early conversations” but would take no new capital while Kushner volunteers for the government.
Who benefited
Jared Kushner’s firm manages about $6.2 billion, almost all of it from the sovereign funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE. It collects tens of millions of dollars a year in fees on that money while he represents the United States to those same governments.
Who wanted something
Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi each have security, arms, chip and investment business before the administration. Each put money into the fund of the man the administration sent to negotiate with it. Affinity’s fee structure gives them a direct channel to pay him.
Who lost out
U.S. policy toward Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE is shaped in part by an envoy whose firm those governments fund. The record does not show a specific decision that went their way because of it; that is what the Senate and House inquiries are asking. Affinity’s own investors have seen no distributions.
Why it matters
A member of the president’s family is paid by foreign governments and negotiates with them on America’s behalf at the same time. Two congressional investigations are open. Affinity’s own filings put the amount above $6 billion. What the inquiries have not established is whether the two roles were ever kept apart.
Sources U.S. Senate Committee on Finance (Ranking Member) (primary)House Judiciary Committee Democrats (primary)Bloomberg (via BNN Bloomberg)Reuters (via Yahoo Finance)The New YorkerMediaite