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Dems Target Trump Family Member and MAGA Prosecutor in Corruption Probe

Democrats argue that corruption and soaring costs are inextricably linked as they set their sights on key Trump targets.

Donald Trump’s son-in-law and his top MAGA prosecutor have emerged as prime targets of Democratic investigations into soaring costs and corruption following Tuesday’s midterm wipeout.

Days after winning back control of the House and Senate, Democrats have signaled that they intend to haul Jared Kushner into Congress over the Iran war as well as D.C. Attorney Jeanine Pirro over the taxpayer-funded botched Reflecting Pool, which party leaders have dubbed “the Strait of Warm Ooze.”

Asked about the Democrats’ priorities when the new Congress begins, Rep. Jamie Raskin argued that stopping the government’s corruption and making life more affordable were inextricably linked–and as such, the party would tackle both.

“The Iran war has cost us billions and billions of dollars. The tariffs have cost us billions and billions of dollars. And all of them, I would argue, are rooted, if not entirely, then at least substantially, in corruption,” said Raskin, who sits on the powerful House Judiciary Committee.

Kushner, the husband of Trump’s eldest daughter Ivanka, is in Democrats’ sights over what they see as an “egregious” conflict between his influence over Trump’s Middle East policies and his lucrative financial relationships with foreign governments in the region.

As a senior adviser in Trump’s first administration, Kushner was a key player in the administration’s decision to abandon Barack Obama’s Iran nuclear deal.

The threat of Iran having a nuclear weapon was then used as the “pretext” for a war “that has now cost us $50 or $60 billion.”

Raskin said Democrats now want to investigate whether Kushner, who works as an envoy for Trump in the Middle East, helped steer Trump towards war while maintaining those close financial ties to countries including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE.

Kushner has previously denied any conflicts of interest, amid reports that his private equity firm, Affinity Partners, has attracted billions of dollars from foreign investors, including a $2 billion investment from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund shortly after he left the White House in 2021.

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But Raskin argues it is a conflict for Kushner to help shape U.S. policy towards governments whose sovereign wealth funds and corporations are simultaneously backing his business.

“It’s an absolute egregious conflict of interest for him to be representing, at the same time, all of these governments and sovereign funds and corporations from these governments,” Raskin said.

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The Maryland congressman spoke Thursday night at George Washington University about Trump’s disastrous midterm results, which have left the president in lame-duck status for the next two years as his administration faces a suite of investigations into its conduct and policy decisions.

The extraordinary GOP losses in supposedly “safe” seats such as Texas, South Carolina and Kansas have accelerated the push for someone to take the fall, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth a likely scapegoat for pushing the war so aggressively.

The House could vote as soon as next week to impeach the former Fox & Friends co-host, with some Republicans also on board.

Raskin on Thursday also said he wanted D.C. Attorney Jeanine Pirro hauled before Congress for what he dubbed “the Strait of Warm Ooze”—Donald Trump’s botched Reflecting Pool.

“We have a lot of things we’d like to talk to her about,” Raskin said of Pirro.

The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was first drained in April after Trump announced plans to repair leaks and color the pool “American Flag Blue”—insisting the renovation would cost about $1.5 million and take just a few weeks.

But the contractor Trump hired to fix the pool was awarded the job without a competitive bidding process, and the cost has now ballooned to nearly $20 million.

Pirro initially charged former Olympian David Hearn, who is one of Raskin’s constituents, with damaging the site after Trump repeatedly claimed vandals had sabotaged the renovation.

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But she was forced to dismiss the case after prosecutors learned the damage was caused by a botched job by Trump’s own contractor, who rushed to finish before the president’s America 250 celebrations.

“I wrote her a letter, and … said: number one, you should pay for Davy Hearn’s legal fees. Number two, get your hands off my constituents,” Raskin said.

The Daily Beast has reached out to Kushner and Pirro.

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Farrah TomazinPolitical Correspondent

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