Chris Christie Shreds 'Grifting' Trump Family, Especially Jared Kushner

Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie attacked rival Donald Trump’s “grifting” family on Wednesday, giving special mention to Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who made trips to the Middle East as a White House adviser and then “cashed in” on them after Trump left office.

The former New Jersey governor, a former Trump ally who turned against him following the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, took aim at Kushner in an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.

“Jared Kushner, six months after he leaves the White House, gets $2 billion from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund when Donald Trump had put him in a position to be in the Middle East,” Christie said.

“What was Jared Kushner doing in the Middle East?” he asked. “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 then he cashed in on those relationships when he left the office.”

Christie was referring to the Saudi government’s investment in Kushner’s investment firm in 2021, which sparked a House Oversight Committee probe in 2022. Kushner incorporated the firm one day after Trump left office.

“Your close relationship with Crown Prince bin Salman [and] your pro-Saudi positions during the Trump Administration ... create the appearance of a quid pro quo for your foreign policy work during the Trump Administration,” then-Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), the committee chair, wrote in a letter to Kushner.

A Kushner spokesperson told The New York Times last year that he “fully abided by all legal and ethical guidelines both during and after his government service.”