77 Comments
User's avatar
Joseph Mangano's avatar

"Conflicted" makes it seem like Jared Kushner has actual feelings and morality. "Compromised" seems like a more accurate designation in light of his financial entanglements.

Katy Bolger's avatar

That is exactly what I am talking about! The words we use in a situation like this are so important. No pussy footing around!

Jared was conflicted about how much hair gel to use this morning.

Jared was compromised in his acceptance of a role in diplomacy because of his financial entanglements, leaving him untrustworthy in the eyes of both sides of the table.

Ann Sharon's avatar

When someone has a conflict of interest like financial entanglements the person is ‘conflicted.’ If is serious then, ‘deeply conflicted.’

Myra Marx Ferree's avatar

That is indeed the official language. But in this case, the “conflict” is what comes first and his interests are clearly more attached to Saudi Arabia than to the US. Which bothers Trump not a whit since he too is first serving his private interests and only playing at diplomacy when it suits him.

Ann Sharon's avatar

I have 2 thoughts.

If it is the “official language” then there is no reason it isn’t appropriate for a journalist to use. The entanglements are listed in the article.

As for, Jared and trump. They have many of the same interests & entanglements especially in the Middle East. So of course it doesn’t bother him. Part of his ‘job’ is not to step on them. A few months ago trump elevated Saudi Arabia to “major non-NATO ally“ which seems reckless to me.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/18/trump-saudi-arabia-ally-00658467

George Lewis's avatar

How about corrupt?

Robert's avatar

Thank You Judd!

We are not hearing, seeing this information on the nightly news! The PBS news hour reports his activity but hasn’t reported this important details thus not the whole story.

One has to question how this is allowed to happen.

No congressional oversight,etc.

David Dimston's avatar

When I worked in corporate America I used to say the only thing worse than a bad presenter is a bad presenter who thinks they are good. This administration is exactly that from Kash Patel to Jared Kushner, as matter of fact I would not be surprised if the Iranians are insulted have to sit across the table from this nepo baby punk. I figure it’s a 50/50 chance this ends with an aircraft carrier sunk to the bottom of the Straits of Hormuz along with thousands of sailors dead. Everyone seems to forget Iran has had decades to reinforce its infrastructure and in many areas leads the world in concrete bunker technology. The Iranian people want change but this isn’t the way we can help them achieve it.

Jared Kushner is in Geneva because he wants to pick up a few Patek Philippe watches and send them back to the Unites States in a diplomatic pouch to avoid paying import duties.

Katy Bolger's avatar

I want to give the Iranian diplomats/negotiators more credit. They have seen what flattery and lies can get you with this administration and I am quite sure they are going in armed with such. I imagine that both sides of the table will be in competition for the most outrageous praise and obfuscation it can vomit onto the table. I would think that both come equipped with the right amount of blandishments and the right amount of outrage when needed.

john a's avatar

agree with your take....our country is currently led by a bunch of nincompoops.....this is a disaster just waiting to happen.

Linda Slater's avatar

The one thing lazy/crooked people are good at is playing the system. Trump thinks he has outsmarted every law in the books. Sounds like Jared is a chip off of both blocks…..his biological father and his father-in-law. An entire family of grifters, punks and amoral crooks.

Jim Carmichael's avatar

No conflict of interest here! Thanks for saying the dark part out loud, Judd!

Katy Bolger's avatar

Jared Kushner is a volunteer? In a room where the deepest most experienced delicate negotiations must be free of any ambiguity? Are we stupid? Are we? How is Judd able to write this without the adjectives we must put into the places where outrageous, unstatesmanlike, dangerous, corrupt, and others should be injected? This is journalism and diplomacy by madlibs.

While his corrupt father FAFO as an ambassador to France, the cushiest job in the State Department.

VALERIE MELUSKEY's avatar

I think we have to be careful of judgmental terms--or we venture into the realm of opinion rather than truth from facts. Judd is careful to avoid that kind of ultimately useless reporting.

Katy Bolger's avatar

Judd is a journalist. I am not.

Ann Sharon's avatar

Exactly. However you are sprinkling your comments with criticisms that don’t acknowledge that.

Nancy's avatar

And a job, his father's that is, that he evidently has been removed from by Denmark, or is it Switzerland, or some other? Anyway, there was a new article saying he had been removed by the country's leaders. He is, btw, a convicted but pardoned (I wonder by whom...) felon. Haven't heard this on the MSM

Katy Bolger's avatar

Charles Kushner, U.S. Ambassador to France, was banned this week from speaking to government officials for his part in responding to a beating death of a right wing activist in the city of Lyons, a no-no in diplomatic circles to get involved with political sides. When he was called to a meeting about the American Embassy response on Monday, he did not show up.

Last August, Kushner was called to a meeting with French foreign officials to discuss a letter he sent to President Macron decrying France for not doing enough to combat antisemitism. Kushner did not show up for the meeting. I believe there has been bad vibes between the French government and Kushner since then. Yesterday, he was cancelled.

Nancy's avatar

Thanks for clarifying! I guess the pardoned felon will need a new post from. his son's FiL.

Ann Sharon's avatar

I believe last time he sent someone in his place and this time ghosted them.

Ian Ogard's avatar

This all is more crooked than a corkscrew. I don't believe for a second that Jared Kushner is meeting with Iranian officials in a last-ditch effort to avoid war. He's there to wrangle Benjamins.

Kushner's involvement in these negotiations in spite of the blatant conflicts of interest and violations of law lead me to believe he thinks he can self-deal with impunity because:

A.) His father-in-law will pardon him for anything and everything.

and/or

B.) Minions in the Supreme Court will concoct a get out of jail free card for him.

Ann Sharon's avatar

He’ll have to do a very delicate dance. The Saudis and their allies have little use for the Iranians. On the other hand they don’t want the Middle East destabilized or their oil fields attacked and so on. From that perspective they are displeased with the WH. If they start to believe all their Billion$ were spent in vain it could be costly for JK.

Ian Ogard's avatar

Indeed. The more money that's at stake, the more delicate the dance... Unless you're a bully's toady and the bully would be just fine with starting WWIII?

Ann Sharon's avatar

One thing in our favor, JK is younger than DJT who has been contemplating his age (commenting on whether or not he’ll go to heaven for instance). JK likely wants more time to enjoy those billion$.

Stephanie Anne's avatar

I don’t know how the USA is not the laughing stock on the world stage? Are we the new example of how to be lawless & how to be bought & sold at the right price? The citizens be dammed?

All diminishing a country that was a beacon of hope. We were once the model- so many other countries looked to us, wanted to be us- even w/our warts & messy democracy. We had morals & mores.

All is not lost yet. Or at least I need to hope for that for future generations. We have the mid-terms. Voting is likely to be one of our greatest challenges this year. We will need to be on our game- preparing, crossing every t and dotting every i, doing all we can to stand up for our messy but admirable democracy.

Thank you Judd & PI team for all you do.

VALERIE MELUSKEY's avatar

And, be able to uncover any dishonesty that Elon Musk might perpetrate via his powerful Starlink.

Therese S.'s avatar

This is the same guy who couldn't get into college without daddy's cash bribe. A certain Murphy's Law comes to mind.

VALERIE MELUSKEY's avatar

...not college, but Harvard Law School.

Pam P's avatar

Why isn't this scandal being reported everywhere?! Thanks for shining a spotlight on it, Judd.

Nancy's avatar

My question exactly! It seems ripe for picking headlines and reporting!

Jen Baron's avatar

Why is Kushner involved at all in this ?? WTAF?

Frau Katze's avatar

Trump doesn’t use professional diplomats because he doesn’t trust them. He trusts people like Kushner and Witkoff.

Ann Sharon's avatar

They’re all in real estate.

Frau Katze's avatar

Right. Like Trump was.

Ann Sharon's avatar

Yes, all of them. They go around the globe leveraging deals - for the trump businesses and their own.

Ann Marie's avatar

Neither of whom have the credentials or experience. They reduce international negotiations to how does the US wheel and deal and most importantly what’s the side deal for them.

Frau Katze's avatar

They’re both incompetent.

Ginny K's avatar

The lawlessness is epic and brazen. And being ignored by legacy media. Thanks for this.

A Sarcastic Prophet's avatar

(Shakes head. Rolls eyes. Exhales sharply. Reminds self quietly that this is my country, land that I love.) As my mom once say, These people. Honestly. Why even bother pretending you understand or care? Just sh&t in bed and kick it out.

Suki Herr's avatar

The difference between Jared&Trump is that Jared doesn’t have dementia

VALERIE MELUSKEY's avatar

Here is more proof that DKTrump has no knowledgeable people to call upon for clear-eyed help in international relationships--no one who will say no to him because they know when he has gone off the grid. Greed has made many people blind. Jared Kushner has no other guiding principle. He has been travelling in tandem with Howard Lutnick who personifies a man with no wisdom. But, after learning of Lutnick's missteps in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, Trump turns to one he trusts who surely has no ties to Epstein [Trump's biggest fear].

Ann Sharon's avatar

They’re both in the pocket of the Saudis. Besides the last time the WH said it was in ‘negotiations’ with Iran, trump bombed Iran.

As for Jared and Epstein, there are reports reviving claims from a whistleblower who was employed at Deutsche Bank about suspicious transactions between them. Interesting that it is now being reported in India’s news.

https://www.wionews.com/world/deutsche-bank-epstein-jared-kushner-fbi-1771419278474

Ken's avatar

Thank you Judd.

USA has nationalized industries in peace time and War. Steel and coal may have been nationalized when Harry Truman was President.

Eisenhower used CIA to overthrow our FRIEND Iran because of oil and Guatemala because of business ties his administration had with United Fruit. The following article shows some of the business ties

The Dulles Brothers: How to wreak havoc in Guatemala and Iran

https://www.mohammadmossadegh.com/news/dulles-brothers/

The CIA decided to terrorize people in Iran for over 20 years after the overthrow. This led to the Iranian hostage crisis, bombing of our embassy in Lebanon, and the murder of our Marines in Beirut in 1983.

Did Israel's spy agency and Israel's military help CIA terrorize and murder people inside and outside of Iran?

One of main reasons illegal immigration is a major problem in USA - Eisenhower broke Central America.

The decision to attack Iran does not belong to the President. It belongs to Congress. When will members of Congress fulfill all their responsibilities dealing with the military? Congress could take full control of the military including control of nuclear weapons via Letters of Marque and Reprisal and make Rules and Regulations of the military.

Constitution

Article 1, Section 8

https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;"

There were draft riots during the Civil War. I expect future military drafts would have worse riots.

An Amendment to the Constitution that Eliminates the Draft as a Possibility

Thursday, February 15, 2007

by Kenneth Scot Stremsky

https://www.thegreenpapers.com/Vox/?20070215-1

What do you mean 'not at all responsible to the Congress of the United States'?

Monday, April 13, 2009

by Ken Stremsky

https://www.thegreenpapers.com/Vox/?20090413-0

I believe Congress has more control over our military than the President

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

https://www.thegreenpapers.com/Vox/?20070214-0

Dealing with Punishment

Thursday, November 19, 2009

https://www.thegreenpapers.com/Vox/?20091119-0

Does the way our Republic wages War bother Mr. Berg-Andersson?

Friday, November 20, 2009

by Ken Stremsky

https://www.thegreenpapers.com/Vox/?20091120-0

Letters of Marque and Reprisal

Monday, November 23, 2009

https://www.thegreenpapers.com/Vox/?20091123-0

Elected officials might care more about doing their jobs if they are more worried about being fired by the people before the next election.

Amendment to Constitution - each State gets 3 US Senators - 2 chosen by the people and 1 by State legislature. State Legislatures should be allowed to fire US Senators they choose whenever they want and pick replacement to reduce corruption. State legislatures would again have a say on Declaring War, value of our money, national debt, Military Draft, Tariffs, regulating banks and investment companies.

Would like Amendment to Constitution that fixes Electoral College. Winner of a state gets 2 electoral college votes and winner of Congressional districts gets 1. Current electoral college system and popular vote for President both provide huge benefits for violence at polling places, ballot stuffing, voter suppression. Popular vote for President would decease odds Presidents would care about states low in population like NH.

Would like Amendment to Constitution that says when a Treaty conflicts with Bill of Rights or other parts of Constitution that part of Treaty is not constitutional.

Would like Amendment to Constitution that gives US House of Representatives Advice and Consent on Treaties.

Would like Amendment to Constitution that gives State legislatures the power to nullify, federal laws, federal regulations, Treaties.

Would like Amendment to Constitution that gives the people the power to nullify, federal laws, federal regulations, Treaties.

Would like Amendment to Constitution that gives State legislatures power to pardon federal crimes.

Would like Amendment to Constitution that gives States legislatures power to pardon state crimes.

Would like Amendment to Constitution that gives US Senate power to pardon federal crimes and state crimes.

Would like Amendment to Constitution that gives US House of Representatives the power to pardon federal crimes and state crimes.

Would like Amendment to Constitution that gives people the power to pardon federal crimes and state crimes. Innocent people have received death penalty.

Would like Amendment to Constitution that gives State legislatures the power to fire President, Vice President, Speaker of US House of Representatives, Secretary of State of USA, Judges on US Supreme Court, Secretaries of Federal Departments, Director of FBI, Director of CIA.

Would like Amendment to Constitution that gives the people the power to fire President, Vice President, Speaker of US House of Representatives, Secretary of State of USA, Judges on US Supreme Court, Secretaries of Federal Departments, Director of FBI, Director of CIA.

Would like Amendment to Constitution that gives the people the power to fire their US Senators, their Representatives to US House of Representatives, Governors, Mayors, Aldermen, members of School Boards, members of State legislatures, STATE JUDGES. When the people fire US Senator chosen by State legislature, State legislature chooses the replacement. The people pick the replacements for US Senators and others they elected via elections.

Would like Amendment to Constitution that gives State legislatures the power to fire US Senators and Representatives to US House of Representatives the people pick. The people would pick the replacements via elections.

Sincerely,

Kenneth Scot Stremsky

187 Poplar Street

Manchester, NH 03104

603-647-5898

Nancy's avatar

So we can describe the conflict of interest, the grift, the illegal representation of the US with a foreign government, an involvement that Kushner himself evidently said repeatedly would be a conflict of interest; but evidently we are powerless to do anything about it. So we describe and analyze, hmmmm our way thoughtfully through the illegal and self-aggrandizing activities on the world stage. I wonder if all of that thoughtful consideration of an illegal act ever stopped it.

Ann Sharon's avatar

Should we ignore it? At least this gets it a little more into the public’s eye.

Nancy's avatar

I can't disagree with you. I just want a little more.... And in some quarters, it's emerging!!

Ann Sharon's avatar

I don’t know who or what you are referencing or recommending.

Nancy's avatar

What am I saying is emerging and what am I recommending? The short version is that strong voices in many places are increasingly emerging, calling out the corruption; and I wish some commentators would push a little harder to report the awfulness. Other than that answer to your question, it might take a long essay to delve further into it.

Ann Sharon's avatar

Commentators. That’s clear enough. Sometimes I call them opinionators. They are different than journalists.

To me this is the natural order of things. If the public doesn’t care it doesn’t get much attention. There is awfulness in every direction. Hard to give it all the attention that’s due.