Jared Kushner's Father Comes to Son's Defense

Jared Kushner has been under much public scrutiny of late, but someone who knows him well came to his defense on Thursday: his own father. Charles Kushner wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post with two big themes: He defended Jared's stewardship of Kushner Companies and said his son had gone above and beyond to avoid conflicts of interest after becoming a top adviser to his father-in-law, President Trump. "Over the past two years, the news media have told a story about my family and our business with little regard for nuance, logic, or even facts," Charles Kushner writes. "I want to set the record straight." For one thing, he writes that the company has "passed up many business opportunities" it would have ordinarily pursued since Jared Kushner assumed his White House post.

Jared Kushner divested himself from the business, and he and the company adhere to the "strictest standards" on that front, writes his father. "That might not be as alluring as some of the crazy stuff I read about my family and our business. But it happens to be the truth." The op-ed comes as House Democrats ramped up investigations into Jared Kushner's security clearance and business interests, notes the Hill. Also, a scathing new book just came out accusing Jared and Ivanka Trump of corruption and conflicts of interest, per USA Today. In the op-ed, Charles Kushner details the company's famous purchase of a Fifth Avenue property, saying the financial losses involved have been way overblown, and he praises his son's business acumen for growing the company. Charles Kushner does not address his own legal issues. (Read the op-ed in full here.)