...
By Jordan King
Reporter
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
Jared Kushner's real estate deal with the Serbian government is facing fresh controversy over what a critic has called a "betrayal of the United States."
In May, Affinity Partners, Kushner's investment firm, announced it had signed a $500 million deal with the Serbian government to build a luxury hotel in Belgrade, the country's capital.
The hotel is set to go up on the site of the former Defense Ministry, which was bombed in 1999 during the Kosovo War, and the deal includes a pledge to build a "memorial dedicated to all the victims of NATO aggression."
Read More
Jared Kushner Faces Backlash Over New Luxury Hotel3 min read
‘Where Is Melania Trump’ Messages Take Internet by Storm4 min read
Jared Kushner Called to Face the Music4 min read
During the war, the U.S. joined forces with NATO to launch airstrikes against the Serbian government under President Slobodan Milosevic, who had unleashed a program of ethnic cleansing against Albanians in Kosovo.
Retired General Wesley Clark, who served as NATO's supreme allied commander at the time, has criticized the planned memorial, telling SpyTalk, a Substack publication about national security and espionage, that it is "worse than a reversal" of U.S. policies.
"It's a betrayal of the United States, its policies and the brave diplomats and airmen who did what they could to stop Serb ethnic cleansing," Clark said.
...
Clark made the comments to Michael Isikoff, an American investigative journalist and author, who wrote in the publication that the memorial needed "to be viewed in a wider geopolitical context."
"It serves the Kremlin's core interests in undermining NATO at a time the alliance is engaged in resisting Russian aggression in Ukraine," Isikoff wrote.
Clark said: "This is part of a broader Russian intelligence movement to split, discredit and weaken NATO. It's Russian imperial pushback."
He added: "Should Kushner participate in this? Of course he should not."
Newsweek has contacted Affinity Partners through its online messaging portal and representatives for Kushner via email for comment.
Kushner, who is married to former President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump, served as an adviser to Trump during his administration.
In May, Reuters, citing two sources, reported that Kushner had made calls to encourage donors to attend a New York fundraiser for Trump, who is campaigning for a second term in the White House.
At the time, a spokesperson for Kushner said, "Jared supports his father-in-law and is happy to connect the many people who get in touch with him looking to help the campaign."
It remains unclear whether Kushner, who stepped away from politics when his father-in-law's term ended in 2021, is returning to the political scene.
In a statement confirming the deal, The New York Times reported, Kushner said: "The economic progress in Serbia over the past decade has been impressive. This development will further elevate Belgrade into the premier international destination it is becoming."
Richard Grenell, the former Balkans envoy for Trump who the Times reports is vying for a role as secretary of state in a second Trump administration, told the newspaper in March that the deal offered the chance to "turn a symbol of previous conflict into a bridge of friendship and renewal," adding that it "symbolizes the tremendous progress that has been made to heal the wounds from the past."
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines