Kushner denies book claims on Gulf money

Jared Kushner has rejected allegations in a new book that link him to billions of dollars in secret Middle Eastern funds. The claims appear in an excerpt from "Princes and Thieves," a book by journalist Matthew Cole scheduled for release soon.

The book asserts that Kushner had access to more than $2 billion in slush money from regional leaders. It states this money was intended to buy influence within the U.S. government. The excerpt, published Thursday in Vanity Fair, covers Kushner's tenure as a senior White House adviser during the first Trump administration.

According to the text, Dutch intelligence agents discovered in 2017 that Russian spies had hacked Kushner's iPhone. The Dutch service reportedly accessed the device after turning a Russian spy. They claim they could view his screen and capture every image he saw. The report says agents watched him log into a United Arab Emirates account that had received hundreds of millions of dollars from an Azerbaijani bank.

The book further alleges that Saudi Arabia and the UAE deposited at least $2 billion into several accounts tied to Kushner. One of these accounts was held at Israel's Central Bank. The excerpt claims the account owners were presented as official government bodies or charities, but the funds were actually for off-the-books diplomatic objectives. These included brokering a deal to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Kushner's legal team issued a statement on Thursday night denying the claims. Kushner called the allegations "completely insane and never happened." He noted that the book provided no bank statements, wire transfer records, account numbers, or transaction dates. His attorney described the claims as false and defamatory and said the team plans to pursue legal action against those responsible.

White House communications director Steven Cheung also responded on X. He called the book "complete fiction" and said it was fabricated by a "failed spy thriller writer." Cheung stated the book offers no evidence or documentation, relying instead on mysterious words from unnamed sources.