Kushner Rejects $2 Billion Gulf Fund and iPhone Spy Claims

Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law, rejected an excerpt from an upcoming book that alleges his iPhone was compromised by Russian intelligence and that Gulf leaders moved $2 billion into accounts tied to him. Kushner said the claims "completely insane and never happened." His statement came Thursday night after the excerpt appeared in Vanity Fair.

The excerpt is drawn from Matthew Cole's book "Princes and Thieves: Jared Kushner and Mohamed bin Zayed's Secret Plot to Remake the Middle East." It covers Kushner's tenure as a senior White House adviser during Trump's first term, when he handled U.S. Middle East policy and helped negotiate agreements involving Israel, Gulf states, China and Russia.

According to the excerpt, Dutch intelligence agents learned in 2017 that Russia had gained access to Kushner's iPhone. The agents reportedly learned this after turning a Russian spy, then obtained access to the device themselves. When Kushner used the phone, the excerpt says, agents could see his screen, and their service began capturing every image he viewed.

The excerpt says Dutch agents watched Kushner log into a United Arab Emirates account that had received hundreds of millions of dollars from a bank in Azerbaijan. It also says the leaders of Saudi Arabia and the UAE placed at least $2 billion into several accounts tied to Kushner, including one at Israel's Central Bank. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman put roughly $1 billion into at least one account, the excerpt says, citing a person with knowledge of the money who said the allocation was for Kushner's personal benefit.

Kushner's attorney called the claims "false and defamatory" and said legal action would follow. Kushner said his team denied every claim on the record, yet the author provided "not a single shred of verifiable evidence." He noted the absence of bank statements, wire transfer records, account numbers and transaction dates.

The White House referred questions to Steven Cheung, assistant to the president and director of communications. Cheung wrote on X that the source book is "complete fiction," fabricated by a "failed spy thriller writer." He said the book presents no evidence or documentation, only "mysterious words from unnamed sources."