Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie took aim at former President Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, and her husband, Jared Kushner, during the former New Jersey governor’s campaign launch Tuesday, saying the “grift from this family is breathtaking.”
“The grift from this family is breathtaking,” Christie said at a New Hampshire town hall. “It’s breathtaking. Jared Kushner and Ivanka Kushner walk out of the White House, and months later get $2 billion from the Saudis.”
Christie was pointing to the $2 billion investment made by the Saudi-backed Public Investment Fund, which is controlled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, into Kushner’s investment firm A Fin Management, LLC (Affinity) in 2021. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform announced a probe into the investment last year to determine whether Kushner improperly used his influence as a government official to secure the investment.
Kushner served in his father-in law’s administration as an adviser who was tasked with policy in the Middle East. Kushner incorporated Affinity in Delaware in January 2021, shortly after former President Trump left office. Six months later, he received the $2 billion investment, according to the House committee.
“You think it’s because he’s some kind of investing genius? Or do you think it’s because he was sitting next to the president of the United States for four years doing favors for the Saudis?” Christie asked on Tuesday. “That’s your money. That’s your money he stole and gave it to his family. You know what that makes us? A banana republic.”
Christie, who has been a vocal critic of former President Trump over the last year, did not hold back on his attacks on his former friend at the town hall, saying a “lonely, self-consumed, self-serving mirror hog is not a leader,” and likening him to Voldemort, the villain in the “Harry Potter” series.
Christie entered the growing field of Republican presidential candidates after he filed paperwork Tuesday, but former President Trump remains the front-runner. In a CNN poll last month, just 2 percent of Republican-leaning voters chose Christie.