Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) is escalating an informal inquiry into Jared Kushner just days after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) privately met with President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, putting Democrats’ conflicting approaches to Trump’s inner circle on display.
Raskin sent Kushner a letter Tuesday renewing a demand for documents related to Kushner’s dual roles as an informal foreign policy adviser to Trump and the head of a private equity firm that does business with foreign governments.
The renewed scrutiny comes as Jeffries faces backlash from progressives over his meeting with Kushner, where the Democratic leader discussed potential areas of cooperation with Trump should Democrats win control of the House this November.
“From the standpoint of the American people, your decision to act simultaneously in these two roles — one public for the government and one private for personal profit — has created a glaring and incurable conflict of interest, particularly when 97% of the funds you have assembled for your investment firm are drawn directly from foreign government sovereign funds, related commercial entities, and foreign nationals,” Raskin wrote in the letter.
Raskin noted that a prior attempt to get documents from Kushner was ignored. Kushner is not required to cooperate with the informal investigation, however. Raskin and Judiciary Committee Democrats are in the minority and do not have subpoena power to compel Kushner to cooperate.
The timing nevertheless puts Raskin’s aggressive posture toward Kushner alongside Jeffries’s effort to open a channel of communication with him, exposing the competing pressures Democrats face as they simultaneously promise investigations of Trump and prepare for the possibility that they will have to govern alongside him.
Progressives, in particular, hammered Jeffries for meeting with Kushner while publicly pledging that Democrats will hold Trump and his allies accountable if they retake the House.
“I think it was an unforced error by Jeffries to meet with someone who embodies the Trump world’s nepotism and corruption, especially at the same time he’s rolling out his ‘anti-crooks’ accountability campaign,” a Democratic campaign operative told the Washington Examiner. “It reads as weak at a time when Democrats need to be projecting strength.”
Jeffries addressed the blowback Monday evening, saying the meeting was to discuss the affordability crisis, but added that “no one is getting a pass.”
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Even Jeffries’s brother lashed out at the criticism.
“Basically, y’all need to go on with your bulls***,” Hasan Kwame Jeffries posted on X. “Ain’t nobody bending the knee or letting anyone skate. But their tempest in teacup makes one really wonder about people’s assumptions and motivations.”