Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie stated that Jared Kushner’s trips to the Middle East as White House adviser to father-in-law Donald Trump were unnecessary, adding that he was “cashing in” on his work in the administration.
The 2024 Republican presidential nominee, a Trump ally turned critic after the Jan. 6 riot, took aim at Kushner on Wednesday when he again criticized the Trump family for “grifting”.
“Jared Kushner, six months after leaving the White House, will receive $2 billion from the Saudi[-backed Public Investment] Fund when Donald Trump put him in the position to be in the Middle East,” Christie said in an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.
“What was Jared Kushner doing in the Middle East? We had Rex Tillerson and Mike Pompeo as Secretaries of State, we didn’t need Jared Kushner, he was put there to make those relationships and he cashed in on the relationships when he left office.
“Your close relationship with Crown Prince bin Salman [and] your pro-Saudi stances during the Trump administration … create the appearance of a quid pro quo for your foreign policy during the Trump administration,” wrote then-committee chair and former Representative Carolyn Maloney (DN.Y.) in a letter to Kushner.
A spokesman for Kushner said The New York Times last year that Trump’s former White House adviser “fully complied with all legal and ethical guidelines both during and after his administration.”