Jared Kushner has hit back at an explosive expose claiming he helped end the war in Gaza despite his company having a lucrative stake in a group investing in Israeli military suppliers.
In a rare, lengthy social media post, Donald Trump’s son-in-law accused CNN of “deeply misleading” reporting after examining the increasingly blurred line between his work as the president’s Middle East peace representative and his private fortune.
The rebuke came as Trump continues to feud with the network over access to the White House press pool.
“CNN published a deeply misleading article and headline suggesting that my diplomatic work in the Middle East somehow benefited investments in Israeli defense companies,” Kushner said on X.
But CNN’s own reporting says otherwise. Buried behind a paywall, it acknowledges: “CNN found no indication that Kushner’s actions as a diplomat directly affected the investments examined.
“Misleading stories will not distract me from the work President Trump asked me to do: help end wars, bring people together, and pursue peace,” he later added. “This work is too important.”
CNN reported Thursday that Kushner’s private equity firm, Affinity Partners, is the largest shareholder in Phoenix Financial, an Israeli financial giant that has invested at least $456 million in nine companies supplying weapons and equipment to Israeli forces.
Affinity, which Kushner founded and owns, does not directly own shares in those nine companies, and the network said it found no evidence that its diplomatic work for the Trump administration affected Phoenix’s investment decisions.
But that overlap has renewed questions about potential conflicts of interest given Kushner’s dual roles as a private investor and unofficial White House representative in one of the world’s most sensitive and long-running conflicts.
His firm also cashed out about a quarter of its stake in Phoenix for more than $340 million in July — a return more than five times its initial investment — while retaining a stake worth more than $1 billion at the time.
Kushner insists, however, that his actions were not inappropriate.
“Phoenix is not a defense company. It is one of Israel’s largest publicly traded financial institutions, highly regulated and managing approximately $220 billion across thousands of investments,” he wrote, comparing it to Vanguard or Fidelity.
“It manages the retirement savings of millions of Israelis. Savers do not choose individual investments, and neither do I. I have no role in deciding what Phoenix buys or sells.”
He also accused CNN of burying the key nuance that it found no evidence that its diplomacy had affected investments.
“These facts result in a less provocative headline, but a much more accurate story,” Kushner wrote.
This sensitivity stems from Kushner’s unusually intertwined business and diplomatic history.
During Trump’s first term, he was a senior White House adviser, heavily involved in Middle East policy, while his wife, Ivanka, worked as a special adviser to her father.
After leaving government, Kushner founded Affinity, which later received a $2 billion investment from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund. Kushner has defended the relationship as legal and appropriate.
But his current deals with the White House have drawn congressional attention because Kushner is a special presidential envoy but not a federal employee, raising questions about the federal ethics rules that apply to his private investments.
His attack comes as his father-in-law is engaged in an increasingly intense struggle with the press.
The White House recently barred access to CNN journalists, as well as journalists from MS NOW and Politico, after Trump accused the media of publishing “fake news.” A federal judge later ordered access restored, and news organizations are fighting to keep it.
Kushner, meanwhile, says he’s finally done staying silent, writing in another post: “For the past 10 years, I’ve ignored false and misleading stories about me. But the cycle has gotten out of control.”
“From time to time I will respond,” he added.
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