How Mohammed bin Salman Has Wielded Saudi Arabia's Wealth | FRONTLINE (PBS)

>> MARTIN SMITH: Soon after Trump's first term ended, Jared Kushner moved to Florida. >> Two days after the election, Jared Kushner woke up and told Ivanka, "Hey, we're moving to Miami." >> Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner purchased a two-acre waterfront lot for $32 million. >> Indian Creek Island is the most expensive neighborhood in America. >> SMITH: And here he established a new company, Affinity Partners. >> What surprised me was that instead of going back into real estate, Jared Kushner went into a new business, which is private equity, quite a lucrative business. And his first step was reaching out to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to help fund his new private equity business. >> SMITH: Initially, the board overseeing Saudi Arabia's investments through the Kingdom's Public Investment Fund, was reluctant. >> The advisory committee, who are the leading lights of Saudi investment world, as well as a couple of international businessmen that they've brought in thought that it was a bad idea.

>> Why would this massive fund that has access to every investment organization in the world look at the landscape and say, "Let's go with this young fellow "who's never really done this kind of work before, "and let's put $2 billion in his pocket and see what he can do with it." >> SMITH: These Board minutes outlined their concerns. >> "These risks have been flagged, including the risk "of having limited experience in private equity "and the inability for Affinity to provide any quantifiable investment track-record." >> Despite all of these negative opinions from that panel of advisors, the Crown Prince, who chairs the board that governs the Public Investment Fund, nonetheless said, "Thumbs up." >> SMITH: Was that payback? Or was it a bet on the future? What was it? >> We can only guess as to the motivation, but it kind of speaks for itself, right? You know, Jared had been instrumental in protecting them from consequences from the Jamal Khashoggi murder, and perhaps they saw a future Trump administration coming back.

>> Jared Kushner. >> SMITH: In this Q&A forum, Kushner was asked about whether the Khashoggi murder made him at all wary of taking Saudi money. >> Lots and lots of private equity firms, other folks are trying to raise money from Saudi Arabia. Some, however, stopped after the Jamal Khashoggi murder. >> Are we really still doing this, Dan? >> Yeah, absolutely. >> I mean, okay, so let's go to this. I have not seen the DNI report that the Biden administration put out there, right? And number two is, look, I know the person who I dealt with. I think he's a visionary leader. I think what he's done in that region is transformational. >> SMITH: At the time, the Saudi Sovereign Wealth or Public Investment Fund, the P.I.F., made a slew of other aggressive investments. >> P.I.F. is one of the world's largest and fastest growing sovereign wealth funds. The United States is P.I.F.'s most important market outside of Saudi Arabia. P.I.F. is invested in better. >> One of the big things that Mohammed bin Salman did when he came in was take a very, very conservative sovereign wealth policy.

And he turned it into a major, right now, trillion dollars in assets, a player in the world, sovereign wealth funds. >> Muhammad bin Salman, particularly in the wake of the ostracism that he faced after the murder of Khashoggi, massively expanded investments in U.S. businesses, um, reflect both the kingdom's desire to globally become players and use the state's assets, the Saudi people's assets, to buy diverse assets around the world. But also as a leverage of influence and control. >> In the modern times, you don't need an army, you need a sovereign wealth fund. And, um, that really is, quite true, I think, if you're, if you're a small country, especially. They have these big funds, and it's kind of how they wield influence and power in the world. >> In the Trump administration, you had a really close relationship with the president's senior advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner after he left.

>> SMITH: The Crown Prince was asked about the propriety of his investment on Fox News. >> Do you think that sends the wrong message even if there wasn't a tit for tat and, you know, I'll give you this and you get that. >> We look to opportunities and investment. We have investment, a lot of investment around the globe with a lot of peoples and with economic opportunity. >> So if Trump becomes president again, you'll leave the $2 billion with Jared Kushner? >> It's, it's a, it's a commitment that P.I.F. have, and when P.I.F. have commitment with any investor around the globe, keep it. >> SMITH: Kushner was not the only bet MBS made. He wasn't alone. Steve Mnuchin also walks into a billion dollars. >> Steve Mnuchin, the treasury secretary, also walks into Saudi and gets a billion dollar investment. It's like a piggy bank for former American officials. >> SMITH: It's incredible. >> It's incredible-- and normally, would be the cause of a great storm of controversy, and there would be hearings, there would be, you know, investigations, there would certainly be a lot of commentary and criticism, and it kind of came and went.

>> SMITH: Mnuchin and Kushner have brushed off concerns about conflicts of interest. They were private citizens at the time. (cheering) >> Breaking news, we are projecting at this hour, the 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump. >> The former President's comeback will be complete with a win in Wisconsin... >> America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate. >> An extraordinary political comeback. Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Russia, all very pleased. >> SMITH: When Trump was re-elected in 2024, Kushner once again became a senior advisor to the president focused again on Middle East diplomacy. At the time, his firm, Affinity Partners was reportedly taking in tens of millions of dollars a year in fees from the Saudis. Kushner says he did not take any salary from the U.S. government for his work. What's the danger of taking Saudi money?

What's the danger to ordinary Americans? Why should they care? >> First of all, if Jared Kushner was a private citizen engaged only in private business, I wouldn't be particularly concerned. The fact that he's still, uh, effectively on the Saudi payroll while making decisions about whatever it is that the U.S. decides to do, uh, while so entangled with the Saudi government, is a very basic conflict of interest. >> SMITH: But what do you say to those who say that this is just a glaring conflict of interest? >> I would say that the records of the company, you should-- are open, and that if you see any kind of... ...illegal activity, it should be investigated. I've seen no evidence of that. >> SMITH: But it doesn't have to be illegal to be, um, a conflict of interest. There's certainly an appearance problem here. >> There may well be an appearance problem, but I mean, then it's been a problem for, I guess, ten years now, and that didn't prevent the American people from resoundingly re-electing President Trump in 2024.

>> How did the White House decide that it is appropriate for Jared Kushner to be working on matters that involve Qatar, the U.A.E., Saudi Arabia, three countries that combined have given him more than $2.5 billion for his investment firm? >> I think it's, um, frankly despicable that you're trying to suggest that it's inappropriate for Jared Kushner, who is widely respected around the world and has great trust and relationships with these critical partners in these countries and so Jared is donating his energy and his time to our government, to the president of the United States to secure world peace. And that is a very noble thing.