Kushner targets book author over claim he managed secret Gulf slush funds

Jared Kushner is moving to challenge a new book that asserts he managed more than $2 billion in hidden accounts for Middle Eastern leaders. The former senior adviser to President Donald Trump called the allegations in Matthew Cole's upcoming release, 'Princes and Thieves: Jared Kushner and Mohamed bin Zayed's Secret Plot to Remake the Middle East,' completely insane.

The book claims Kushner had access to slush funds intended to buy influence within the U.S. government. An excerpt published Thursday in Vanity Fair details how Dutch intelligence agents allegedly discovered a hacked iPhone belonging to Kushner in 2017. The report states that after turning a Russian spy, Dutch agents gained access to the device and monitored its screen.

According to the account, the spies observed Kushner logging into a United Arab Emirates account that had received hundreds of millions of dollars from a bank in Azerbaijan. The book further alleges that leaders from Saudi Arabia and the UAE deposited at least $2 billion into several accounts tied to Kushner, including one held at Israel's Central Bank. These accounts were often presented as official government bodies or charities, but the money was purportedly for off-the-books diplomatic objectives.

The excerpt specifies that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman placed roughly $1 billion in at least one account. A person with knowledge of the money told the author that this allocation was for Kushner's personal benefit. These claims cover Kushner's years in the first Trump administration, when he helped negotiate major foreign policy deals involving Israel, the Gulf states, China, and Russia.

Kushner and his legal team issued statements on Thursday night denying every claim on the record. Kushner noted that the author provided no bank statements, wire transfer records, account numbers, or transaction dates to support the narrative. His attorney described the claims as false and defamatory, stating that they plan to pursue legal action against those responsible for the publication.

White House communications director Steven Cheung also responded to the report, calling the source book complete fiction. Writing on X, Cheung described Cole as a failed spy thriller writer who relied on mysterious words from unnamed sources rather than evidence or documentation. CBS News has not independently verified the details provided in the Vanity Fair excerpt.

The dispute centers on the lack of verifiable evidence presented alongside the financial claims. Kushner's team emphasized that no single shred of verifiable proof was offered, while the author's legal team prepares for potential litigation. The book positions these funds as central to a secret plot to remake the Middle East, a narrative Kushner's side says is entirely fabricated.