Kushner Subpoenaed in Federal Probe Over Middle East Funds and Policy Influence

WASHINGTON — Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of former President Donald J. Trump who served as a senior White House adviser, has been formally subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury as part of an escalating investigation into whether he received billions of dollars from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds while simultaneously shaping American foreign policy in the region.

The subpoena, issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, compels Mr. Kushner to produce a decade’s worth of financial records, communications logs, and meeting notes related to his interactions with officials from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar.

According to two people familiar with the sealed indictment application, the inquiry is examining whether Mr. Kushner violated federal conflict-of-interest laws and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The central question, these people said, is whether Mr. Kushner used his White House portfolio—which included brokering the Abraham Accords—to secure a financial lifeline for his struggling family business after leaving government.

Mr. Kushner’s attorney declined to comment on the specific allegations but issued a statement dismissing the probe as “politically motivated revenge.” The former aide has not been charged with any crime.

At the heart of the investigation is a $2 billion investment that a Saudi sovereign wealth fund, led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, made in Affinity Partners—a private equity firm Mr. Kushner founded shortly after leaving the White House in January 2021.

Critics at the time called the investment extraordinary, given Mr. Kushner’s lack of prior asset management experience. The fund was reportedly struggling with liquidity issues when the Saudi infusion was announced.

What has drawn the grand jury’s attention, however, is timing. The investment was finalized less than six months after Mr. Kushner helped broker the normalization of relations between Israel and several Arab nations—a diplomatic victory that the Trump administration hailed as historic.

Federal prosecutors are now examining whether Mr. Kushner continued to discuss Middle East policy with foreign officials after leaving government, potentially in violation of the Emoluments Clause and federal lobbying laws.

“The subpoena is exceptionally broad,” said Barbara L. McQuade, a former U.S. attorney. “It suggests prosecutors are looking for a paper trail connecting specific policy decisions to specific financial benefits.”

Among the documents requested are all communications between Mr. Kushner and the Saudi crown prince between 2019 and 2023. Prosecutors are also seeking records related to a separate $500 million investment from a UAE-based fund.

The investigation took a dramatic turn last week when a former Affinity Partners executive testified before the same grand jury, describing internal concerns that Mr. Kushner’s Middle East contacts were being leveraged to attract capital.

Mr. Kushner has previously denied any impropriety, telling an interviewer in 2022 that “over 99 percent” of Affinity’s capital came from foreign sources but that no foreign government received any preferential policy access in return.

The White House declined to comment on an ongoing investigation. A spokesperson for the Justice Department also declined to confirm or deny the subpoena.

Legal experts say the case presents significant evidentiary hurdles. Proving intent—that Mr. Kushner knowingly exchanged policy influence for payment—would require direct evidence of a quid pro quo, which remains elusive.

Nevertheless, the subpoena signals that prosecutors believe they have sufficient basis to compel testimony under oath. Mr. Kushner is expected to appear before the grand jury within 30 days.

The former president, who remains the front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination, lashed out at the news on social media, calling the investigation “a continuation of the witch hunt” against his family.

But ethics watchdogs have long warned that Mr. Kushner’s post-White House financial arrangements created the appearance of impropriety, if not actual illegality.

“You cannot take billions from authoritarian monarchies whose policies you personally shaped while in office,” said Jordan Libowitz of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “That is not a conservative or liberal principle. That is basic anticorruption.”

For now, Mr. Kushner has not been indicted. But the subpoena transforms what was once a whispered ethical question into a sworn legal confrontation—one that could, for the first time, place the internal dealings of the Trump family’s inner circle under criminal cross-examination.