Saudi Prince Says Kushner Is Not ‘In His Pocket’
Mohammed bin Salman Image by Getty Image
In an interview with the Washington Post, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman denied reports that he has Jared Kushner ‘in his pocket.’
The ‘pocket’ comment was reported on Thursday by The Intercept, which claimed that in an unannounced trip to Saudi Arabia in October, Kushner disclosed the names of Saudi royal family members believed to be disloyal to Mohammed. Kushner had access to the names from the daily intelligence briefings prepared for President Donald Trump and his top advisers — access he lost in February when his security clearance was downgraded.
One week after Kushner’s October trip, Mohammed rounded up royal family members he claimed were disloyal, including those in the daily briefings Kushner had access to. The Intercept report claims Mohammed bragged to his inner circle that Kushner gave him the names, saying Kushner was “in his pocket.”
Mohammed, however, denied he received the information from Kushner. He claims the round up was in the works for over a year. He said it would be “really insane” for him to trade classified information with Kushner and that while “we work together as friends, more than partners,” there was nothing unusual or inappropriate about their relationship. Mohammed noted that he also had good relations with others in the White House, including Vice President Pence.
Contact Avichai Scher at [email protected] or on Twitter, @avi_scher
It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.
This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions.
We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.
As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday!
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
