The MeidasTouch Podcast - Kushner Faces Potential Congressional Scrutiny Over Foreign Business Dealings

Episode Date: October 3, 2026

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas breaks down how a Democratic takeover of the House and Senate could expose Jared Kushner to congressional investigations and subpoenas over his foreign business dealings and conflicts of interest. Ben examines Kushner's growing exposure to scrutiny and what renewed congressional oversight could mean for the Trump family as the midterms approach. Smalls: For a limited time only, get 60% OFF plus FREE SHIPPING and FREE TREATS for LIFE at https://Smalls.com/meidas Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af MissTrial: https://meidasnews.com/tag/miss-trial The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast Cult Conversations: The Influence Continuum with Dr. Steve Hassan: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show The Ken Harbaugh Show: https://meidasnews.com/tag/the-ken-harbaugh-show Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My right league goalie says he plays for the love of the game. You gave up six goals last week, Steve? Maybe play to win, huh? Like with Bet365. I get paid the second my team goes out big with early payout and can cash out at any time before the game ends. Steve, Bet365, the home of winning early. Must be 19 and older.

Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you were someone you know is concerns about gambling, visit connectsontario.ca. Or call 1866 5 through 1,2,600. Terms and conditions apply. If you want a $3,000 a month payday for life, what would you feel free to do? Maybe take a long weekend, every weekend, or try a bunch of new hobbies. Would you feel free to upgrade and listen ad-free?

Don't worry, we get it. Every $20 ticket could win you $3,000 a month for life and supports life-saving cancer research at the Princess Margaret. Feel free to buy your payday for life ticket today. Raffle number RAF 157-3916. Please play responsibly. Jared Kushner sees the writing on the wall, and he's doing everything he can before Democrats take control of the House and the Senate to try to avoid accountability. He would be the first person Democrats would likely subpoena in the House Oversight Committee. That's what Democratic Congress member Robert Garcia has told me.

He will be the future chair of the House Oversight Committee. So Jared Kushner is now posting things like this. For the last 10 years, I have ignored. false and misleading stories about me and focused on the work. But the cycle has gotten out of control where old lies get repeated as fact. New ones get added. And the record becomes increasingly distorted. I mean, you're such a loser.

What are you whining about? What record is getting distorted? You brought in billions of dollars from autocrats in the Middle East. And now you, as an unelected, unappointed, I don't even know what the hell you're supposed to be, you are negotiating on behalf of the United States and you are further inflicting pain and suffering on the people in the United States and people throughout the world. He goes on to talk about how, so from time to time, I'm going to respond, not to every allegation, but when the truth matters, I'll put the facts and supporting information out publicly and people

can judge for themselves. So Jared Kushner's saying, I'm going to control the narrative right now because I feel that I'm under attack. I've made hundreds of millions of dollars in fees from Middle East autocrats, but I'm the one under attack. I'm going to be the victim right now. Do you see how he's setting this up before Democrats take control of the House and the Senate? And by the way, you know he's going to try to squirm out of subpoenas and he's going to assert executive privilege and deliberative process privilege and this privilege and I'm not allowed to testify and there's state secrets. You know he's going to go that route.

But I'm just curious. What does Jared Kushner want to get off of his chest? What is he really upset about? Oh, he's upset about a CNN article and a CNN article that talked about how Jared Kushner's investment firm, Affinity, is the largest shareholder in an Israeli financial company with at least $456 million invested in nine firms supplying Israel's military. This is a CNN report. And so Kushner's Affinity Partners now holds 7.4% in Phoenix Financial, this Israeli company

that has major investments in all of these Israeli military companies. Affinity, which that's Kushner's company, used to hold a 10% stake. It's worth over $1 billion. He sold some shares, but it's worth over a billion dollars. Since they invested a few years. years back, the value has increased significantly as the genocide accelerated in Gaza. And there are investments that are made by this company, Phoenix Financial, in other companies like Elbit Systems, Israel's largest arms maker, $265 million, flowed from Phoenix Financial to Elbit, $40 million in

rest shift technologies, which makes few years. for shells used in Gaza, $68 million in Next Vision, which makes cameras for military drones used in Gaza. Phoenix also holds stakes in Caterpillar, whose D-9 bulldozers are used by the Israeli military to ethnically cleanse communities in Gaza, as well as other parts of occupied Palestine and Lebanon, and in Israel shipyards and key Israeli Navy supplier. Just take a look at the stock of Elbit systems over the past five years or so or four years, it went up 376%. And so the money from Kushner, Affinity Partners, that's Kushner's private equity firm. That money then went into Phoenix Financial.

Phoenix Financial then invested in these Israeli military companies, and those stocks surged as the genocide in Gaza took place. And so let's take a look at what? what Kushner is saying is wrong with the CNN article, and we should preview what Kushner's going to argue if and when he's subpoenaed. CNN published a deeply misleading story and headline, suggesting that my diplomatic work in the Middle East somehow benefited investments in Israeli defense companies,

but CNN's own reporting says otherwise, buried behind a paywall, it acknowledges, quote, CNN found no indication that Kushner's actions as a diplomat directly affected the investments reviewed. Well, just pause there. I believe Kushner referred to his new Gaza plan as a master plan. He referred to building resorts in Gaza before. He is, unfortunately, despite not being appointed or elected,

and no American other than Trump regime oligarchs want him in this role, I'm not even sure they want him. I mean, Trump wants him in this role. He's been the main person with Witkoff apparently dealing with Iran and causing massive catastrophic consequences in that area. And you're saying that your role has no bearing on what's taking place at all in Israel's military. You know, no, no, no, no, nothing like you think that we're that stupid. But let's go on and let's see how Kushner describes it. Phoenix is not a defense company, he says. Okay, we know that.

It's a financial company that invests in a lot of companies, including defense companies. So you put money in Phoenix. Phoenix puts money in Israeli military companies. That seems to be pretty basic. We all understand that, Jared. But this is what he says. It's one of Israel's largest publicly traded financial institutions. highly regulated and managing approximately $220 billion across thousands of investments.

Okay, but you're their largest shareholder. Now, you don't have a controlling stake, but you are the largest single shareholder in this company. And then Kushner says, think of Phoenix as the Israeli equivalent of Vanguard or Fidelity. Very relatable to most Americans there, Kushner. Yeah, well, think about it like Vanguard or Fidelity. It manages the retirement savings of millions of Israelis. Yes, that's partially true what it does, but it also invests in Israeli military firms and military equipment. In addition to investing in and managing the retirement and savings of millions of Israelis,

The savers don't choose the individual investments, and neither do I. I have no role in deciding what Phoenix buys or sells. It has performed very well for affinity, and our investors are up more than five times since our initial investment. And a lot of what Phoenix invests in did very well, as it invested in a lot of military equipment and military stuff during the genesis. decide in Gaza. That's, that's, that's, and during all of these catastrophic wars that are taking place. Affinity is an SEC registered investment firm. Oh, that's supposed to make us feel confident. I mean, the Trump regime has gutted the SEC. The SEC, you know, the SEC is going to really regulate Jared Kushner. Got it, Jared. He goes on to say, our investment in Phoenix is

public and dates to before Trump was reelected and before I return to public service. And before I return to public service. Affinity does not own the defense companies highlighted in CNN's story. No one's saying you own the defense company. You're saying you invest in Phoenix and Phoenix invests in the defense companies. I mean, what's so hard? Do you think we're stupid? Like, we understand that's the way it works. And when you are responsible for a lot of the catastrophic things happening, that's escalating war and war companies are making money and you're making money by putting money in a whole. company that's investing in the war companies. We got a lot of questions and we have a lot of problems with that. Those facts make for a less provocative headline, but a much more accurate story.

I know what provocative? Oh, so provocative. What a weird word? What words are you talking about? Provocative. No, we just think it's wrong. We think the behavior should not happen. This is not how public servants behave, and we don't even know who the hell you are or what you're even doing. And I don't even know why you're whining like this, like a little baby. Just grow the hell up. What are you whining about? Misleading stories will not distract me from the work President Trump has asked me to do. Your father-in-law? Oh, my daddy and my father-in-law, they won't this will not distract. What work are you doing? What work are you doing? You haven't made any deal anyway. What work are you doing? Seriously? Help end wars, bring people together and pursue peace. That work is too important. Well, now the way you describe it like Vanguard, I actually think you actually are saying it's worse than what we thought. So here's how I understand it. You brought in all this money from Middle East countries like Saudi Arabia gave you $2 billion. And Qatar and UAE gave you $1.4.4.5.5.5.

billion dollars and some of the other kingdoms gave you some money as well so anywhere between four and six billion dollars because you're dumb yeah jared i know you watch this because you're a dummy you don't know how to actually deploy this capital yourself so instead you take big chunks of this money and you give it to phoenix financial and israeli holding company so you take a the money from Saudi Arabia, which may not otherwise want to invest directly in Israeli companies for reasons that we know the distinction between Saudi Arabia and Israel. You take their money and Qatari money and UAE money. You take it and you're like, okay, I'm now going to put your money from my fund into the Phoenix Financial Fund. And there are some other investments to be

clear. But the biggest chunk goes to Phoenix Financial and we'll let them do it. Then you are sent off, dumb and dumber, you and Whitkoff to the Middle East. Hey, everybody, look, it's Whitkoff and Kushner. We don't know what the hell we're doing. Cause escalation there. Cause escalation in Ukraine. Wars everywhere. Phoenix Financial, which has investments in lots of war companies and companies that are

involved in the genocide of Gaza, they make a lot more money. So your fund invests in their fund. and then everybody's making money right here. And then you brag, look, we got a five times return. And you just gave the money to Phoenix Financial because you, Cushner Financial, don't know what you're doing. That's my opinion. Feel free to disagree with it, but it seems pretty obvious.

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that your house no longer smells like a litter box all the time. That's 60% off plus free shipping and free treats for life when you go to smalls.com slash Midas. So we might be asking, Ben, so why wouldn't Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar invest directly in Israeli military. Oh, wait, that's why, Eureka. So they need Kushner. And maybe that's why these countries, UAE and Saudi Arabia, I'm just going to go out on a lamir, Kushner. It's why they continue to warmonger because their individual profits are also tied to the escalation of this war. That's how MBS is making money, and that's how Abu Dhabi's leaders are making money, and that's how the Qataris are, ah, got it, got it. Am I right? You know, am I, am I on to something

over here? And so, there it goes. And I like this story over here from Mother Jones, where it talks about how in 2021, when Kushner was out there starting, you know, this fund, his PowerPoint was so awful and it devoted most of it to saying how great he was. And actually, the Saudi Arabia sovereign wealth fund, they told MBS, do not put money here. We don't think he knows what he's doing. They don't have any financial competence. But MBS was like, well, this is a good way to bring our money into certain things that we may not otherwise be able to put our money into it's kind of where he was going there and then at where they saw if trump gets reelected this could be helpful for our geopolitical position little did they know or they should have known that trump's a

con artist and a fraud and a sex predator and a deviant and an awful despicable thing and so saudi Arabia is now suffering and all these Arab nations are suffering as a result of Trump's catastrophic war in Iran and Trump's incompetence. But everybody was out there just focused on the greed and now we see the consequences of that. I mean, let me share with you this one first. This is Kushner recently describing the plan, you know, how he sees things going great in Gaza. and things are going really amazing. I'm here. I'm a volunteer of the government.

Listen to what he says over here, play this clip. I have not joined the administration. So I'm still just a volunteer like other businessmen who, you know, who volunteer to help the government when asked. The level of engagement has definitely been a lot more than I anticipated. You know, it really got started with Gaza. I was helping, you know, Steve Wickoff, who's really an amazing human being. And he's really made a big sacrifice to go and devote his life to trying to make a difference on some of these very, very challenging issues.

And I know firsthand how lonely it is to be in those jobs and how hard it is when everyone's rooting against your success. And so I spent a lot of time helping Steve, you know, just quietly. And then when things got very intense with Gaza, Steve and the president asked me to get more involved operationally, which obviously, you know, when the president asked you to do something, you do it. And we worked together incredibly well. We're able to achieve an outcome that I think nobody thought was possible. I mean, for two years, the war in Gaza was raging. It was causing really a big dark cloud over the entire world. And I think that it was something we were able to get in and, you know, really with the great help of our partners in Qatar and Egypt and Turkey and many others who helped, we're able to get to a great outcome.

And now... And here is where he described. the island in Albania about how he and the Rothschilds were looking at this incredible island in Albania and they met Eddie Rama, the leader of Albania. This is amazing. Listen to what he says over here. Here, play this clip. I was on a vacation after we left government in the summer of 2021. We were on our friend Nat Rothschild's boat. We got picked up in Montenegro and then we started sailing over to Corfu and we spent a couple days in Elfaxi. And we spent a couple days in Albania. One of the nights there, Prime Minister Rama came to the boat. I had not met him when I was in

government, but I was very, very impressed with his vision for what he wanted to do with Albania. I really didn't know anything about the country. I didn't understand the history and the darkness of the history with the communism and the terrible leadership actually led to it being fully undeveloped as a nation. But Eddie came in. He has one of the cool things I was attracted to is the fact that he seemed like a very skilled politician as a very strong and smart leader, but also the fact that he was an artist. I thought it would be very cool to see what a country really led and built by an artist could be, somebody with amazing taste and great creativity. And so I was just intrigued by it.

And then before we went to Corfu, we stopped in But Trent, which was also a spectacular site, and just really felt to me like it showed the potential of the country. So much amazing beauty, the water, we did a lot of swimming, a lot of hiking. The country just had incredible natural beauty, but it seemed like a place that nobody knew or understood. And so didn't think much about it for about a year. And then about a year later, we started looking at opportunities in the Balkans. This is what Kushner said as he said Putin told him the timeline for what Putin wants to achieve in Ukraine. And that as a mediator, that's very important to Kushner.

Listen to what he said. Play this clip. Look, I think right now from the Ukraine perspective, I mean, President Putin's laid out his line of what he wants to achieve. If Ukraine, you know, wanted to withdraw to that line, then obviously, you know, we have the rest of the deal set up and put together. Ukraine right now does not want to do that. And obviously, our job is the mediators to figure out how can we come up with a creative solution that doesn't violate their desires and that helps them achieve, you know, their objective and does in a way that we can get Russia to end the conflict in a way that hopefully. allows both parties to move forward in a framework where this doesn't happen again. And this is Kushner previously talking about the master plan that he has in Gaza.

This is real. This is what he said. Here, play this clip. We've developed ways to redevelop Gaza. Gaza, as President Trump's been saying, has amazing potential. And this is for the people of Gaza. We've developed it into zones. In the beginning, we were toying with the idea of saying, let's build a free zone. And then we have a Hamas zone. And then we said, you know what, let's just plan for catastrophic success. We, Hamas, signed a deal demilitarized. That is what we are going to enforce. People ask us what our plan B is.

We do not have a plan B. We have a plan. We signed an agreement. We are all committed to making that agreement work. There's a master plan. We'll be doing it in phasing. In the Middle East, they build cities like this in, you know, two, three million people. They build this in three years.

And so stuff like this is very doable if we make it happen. Rothel will start with. This will show a lot of workforce housing. We think this could be done in two, three years. we've already started removing the rubble and doing some of the demolition. And then new Gaza. It could be a hope. It could be a destination, have a lot of industry, and really be a place that the people there can thrive, have great employment.

Once this starts going, we think there should be 100% full employment and opportunity for everybody there. And we have a lot of data on what can be. But we think that this really gives the Gaza and people an opportunity to live their aspirations. But it all starts with security and it all starts with governance. And so it'll be fascinating as we see more posts, I suppose, from Kushner, defending himself or wanting to put out statements. But Kushner is an idiot. Kushner's main investment, he's a trust fund idiot. His main investment during Trump's first term that building on Fifth Avenue was heading into bankruptcy and he got bailed out by a fund that also got its money from the Qataris and others.

And, you know, this is the guy out there, him and Whitkoff. I mean, like, truthfully, it's dumb and dumber. But pay attention to the fund. Pay attention to what's going on there. What's really happening? Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. And thanks for watching.

Hey, if you want the full story, how democracy got here, and how we take it back. Pre-order our new book, WTF America today. Scan the QR code or click the link in the description. Let's do this. My reg league goalie says he plays for the love of the game. You gave up six goals last week, Steve. Maybe play to win, huh? Like with Bet365.

I get paid the second my team goes up big with early payout and can cash out at any time before the game ends. Steve, Bet365, the home of winning early. Must be 19 and older. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you were someone you know is concerns about gambling, visit connectsontario.ca.

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