Donald Trump’s biographer says Jared Kushner may be behind the president’s public outburst at Israel over its attacks on Iran’s gas fields.
In another sign that the war he started is spiraling out of control, Trump on Wednesday evening accused Israel of failing to notify the U.S. of its attacks on Iran’s South Pars gas field, which prompted Iranian retaliatory strikes on a Qatari gas facility, roiling global energy markets.
“Israel, out of anger for what has taken place in the Middle East, has violently lashed out at a major facility known as South Pars Gas Field in Iran,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“The United States knew nothing about this particular attack, and the country of Qatar was in no way, shape, or form, involved with it, nor did it have any idea that it was going to happen. Unfortunately, Iran did not know this, or any of the pertinent facts pertaining to the South Pars attack, and unjustifiably and unfairly attacked a portion of Qatar’s LNG Gas facility.”
The 79-year-old president declared that “NO MORE ATTACKS WILL BE MADE BY ISRAEL” on Iran’s gas fields unless Iran “unwisely decides to attack a very innocent, in this case, Qatar.”
But Israeli officials have disputed the president’s account, saying the U.S. had been informed of the attack on the gas fields, The New York Times reports.
Trump biographer Michael Wolff said on the Inside Trump’s Head podcast that the president’s claim that he was kept in the dark by Israel is “obviously not true.”
The author argued that Trump wrote his Truth Social post at the behest of Kushner, his investor son-in-law, who—like the president himself—has extensive business interests in Qatar.
“Why did he write this? He wrote this because Jared called him up and said, ‘The Qataris are furious. You’ve got to do something here. They’re hopping mad,’” Wolff said. “And he said, ‘OK, I’ll take care of it.’”
The author added, “The Israelis were put over to the side, and the emphasis was then on the Qataris, who are among Jared’s many clients in the region.”
Kushner, Ivanka Trump’s 45-year-old husband, is the founder and CEO of Affinity Partners, a private equity firm he started shortly after the end of the first Trump administration with a $2 billion investment from a fund led by Trump ally Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have also invested in Affinity Partners, which has made Kushner a billionaire.
Kushner is currently trying to raise $5 billion or more for his firm from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and other investors, according to the Times.
Despite the ethical quagmire that comes with Kushner’s personal stakes in the Middle East, he has become Trump’s go-to unofficial diplomat along with fellow businessman Steve Witkoff, and the two men held unsuccessful talks with the Iranian regime last month before Trump launched his attack.
Wolff argued that Kushner is “the controlling voice” in the president’s war with Iran, suggesting that Kushner, who also has close ties to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is enticing Trump with the promise of financial opportunity.
“Jared is good at playing his father-in-law. That’s the Jared secret,” Wolff told co-host Joanna Coles. “He is, again, the son-in-law who ate the father-in-law, and he’s as adeptly managed Donald Trump. And I think he has also managed to hold out the possibility for his father-in-law that there is a lot of money in this.”
Wolff was granted access to the White House during Trump’s first term, when Kushner served as the president’s senior adviser. In Trump 2.0, however, Kushner did not return to an official role.
“He’s outside of the White House, but within and therefore without the issues of being part of the White House, but at the same time having incredible power in it,” Wolff said.
When reached for comment, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung told the Daily Beast, “Michael Wolff is a lying sack of s--- and has been proven to be a fraud. He routinely fabricates stories originating from his sick and warped imagination, only possible because he has a severe and debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted his peanut-sized brain. Conversely, Jared Kushner has brought peace around the world, with the historic Abraham Accords, and has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to Affinity Partners for comment.
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