Now I may be just a knucklehead. But...
Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of the President of the United States, wants to secure a loan to develop a building in Manhattan. OK. That is fine. There are lots of places to get a loan for the development of a building in New York. I know. I am a developer. I have to get loans all of the time. And, I think Russians are excellent business people - at least the ones here on the West Coast. Fine folks, the Russians. Oh, and good for Jared Kushner for wanting to create jobs in his home state. "A" for effort, Mr. Kushner.
I am puzzled, though.
New York is the finance capital of the world. Jared Kushner is from New York and has done business in New York as has his family - for decades. Thus, securing capital in your home town should be easy especially with your family's track record and connections in real estate development. Why Kushner needs a loan from a Russian state-owned bank is a little odd considering the volume of capital available literally at his front door.
Meanwhile, a Russian bank - actually THE Russian Bank owned by the Russian government - wants access to the American market for lending. This Russian Bank, Venesheconombank (VEB), under sanctions from the U.S. Government for three years, wants to see those sanctions end so it can make more money for its shareholders, the Russian people (maybe). Again, not such a bad thing for the Russians to want to put capital to work to benefit their economy and their nation. Side note: the sanctions on VEB were put in place by the U.S. Department of the Treasury for Russia's interference in Ukraine. Interference is a polite way of saying seizing the Crimea by force of arms and killing a bunch of Ukrainians in the process.
But, here's the catch. Jared Kushner has many more capital-raising options than to seek financing from a U.S. sanctioned Russian Bank. The Russians, on the other hand, have few options. What they could use is a friend in The White House to break their sanction stranglehold. On the surface it's a perfect match for a perfect ethics violation (at least). Jared Kushner's father-in-law - Donald Trump - is one of the only people in the world who can see the bank's sanctions lifted. Moreover, Donald Trump has his own business interests in Russia he'd like to see thrive. We don't really know what those business interests yield because Mr. Trump refuses to release his taxes. So, to be fair, I am guessing that Mr. Trump has a vested financial interest in Russia's financial success.
Mr. Trump, as President of the United States AND as an owner of companies he created, has an inherent responsibility to declare his conflicts of interest here, as does Jared Kushner. This should include directing his son-in-law to cease and desist ALL business negotiations with Russian state-owned banks until the nature of those business dealings can be revealed. But, the cat is already out of the bag here. Kushner met with the Russians in December, before his father-in-law was sworn in as President.
Hmmmm. In the absence of full disclosures from Kushner and Trump and others, what conclusion can be draw?
Kushner should have known when he met with the Russian bankers in December that he was walking an ethical razor's edge. So, at the very least, all of the timing issues should be fully vetted by an independent counsel. The Congress is not the place to consider the implications of all of Mr. Trump's Russian connections. It must be done by an independent counsel. Now.
And it gets even worse for Kushner because in the sanctions, the U.S. Department of the Treasury said that it is prohibited for "U.S. persons and persons within the United States from transacting in, providing financing for, or otherwise dealing in new debt of longer than 90 days maturity or new equity for...VEB, their property, or their interests in property."
Look, folks, doing the right thing is really quite simple. Transparency stops the games. And while it likely won't stop the nattering nabobs of negativism in all of their spirited guises, it will at least demonstrate to the world that American's value truth, justice, and...well...you know the rest.
