A group of Democratic lawmakers have asked Citigroup and Apollo Global Management for more information after charging that Kushner Companies’ ties with the two entities are more extensive than they previously thought.
Both Citigroup and Apollo responded March 20 to previous requests for information, but new letters sent by Democrats said new reports about ties between the companies “raised questions about Mr. Kushner’s conflicts of interest” between his role in government and his family business.
The two letters said both financial institutions chose to issue loans to the Kushner family real estate business as Jared Kushner was taking on the role of White House senior advisor to President Trump, or after he was already holding the position.
The lawmakers are requesting a more detailed timeline of the loan deals, which equates to over $500 million in loans, and are looking into whether any debt financing to Kushner Companies involved money from foreign entities or governments.
The letter to Citigroup also charged that the company “sought an audience with Mr. Kushner because of his White House ‘leadership role.’”
The refocus on looking into the financial records and correspondence could indicate that Democrats remain interested in probing potential conflicts of interest in the White House, which could be more aggressively pursued if Democrats take back either the House or Senate in the 2018 midterms.
Attorneys for Citigroup and Apollo Global Management have defended the Kushner Companies’ loans integrity and denied connections between the financial transactions and meetings Kushner had with leaders of the financial firms.
Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Mass., Tom Carper, Del., Gary Peters, Mich., and Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings, Md., all of whom contributed to the letters, are not accusing Kushner of any wrongdoing yet, but the request for information could be followed up by inquiries into whether he violated federal ethics rules.
