Kushner and the Vanity Fair Excerpt: What It Alleges, What He Denies

A Vanity Fair book excerpt published Oct. 22 claims that Jared Kushner had access to secret Gulf-funded bank accounts while he was a senior White House adviser, a claim Kushner calls “completely insane” and says he will fight in court. The Kushner Vanity Fair story comes from Princes and Thieves, a book by former Intercept reporter Matthew Cole. Below we separate the excerpt’s claims from the denials and from what is already on the public record. Nothing in the excerpt has been proven, and the outlets that reported on it say they could not confirm it. For the family’s deals that are documented, see our Trump corruption tracker.

What the Kushner Vanity Fair excerpt alleges

Cole’s account begins with intelligence work, not bank records. He writes that the Netherlands’ military intelligence agency, the MIVD, turned a Russian military intelligence operative in 2017 and through him reached a Russian server holding screenshots from Kushner’s iPhone. According to the excerpt, the Dutch then found their own way in: “By early 2018, the MIVD had found a vulnerability in the iPhone that gave them access.” Cole says the access was limited. The Dutch could see Kushner’s screen when he used the phone but could not use it as a microphone or camera.

The financial claims center on two accounts Cole labels Alpha and Beta:

• Alpha. An account at First Abu Dhabi Bank. Cole writes that Saudi and Emirati money totaling “roughly $750 million” flowed into it starting in 2017, routed through a bank in Azerbaijan. He says the account belonged to a UAE government-funded charity, the Watani Al Emarat Foundation, and that Kushner was a signatory rather than an owner.
• Beta. Cole writes that by spring 2018 the UAE’s then-crown prince, Mohamed bin Zayed, had moved about $1 billion to Israel via Azerbaijan for Kushner, and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu encouraged depositing it at Israel’s central bank. Cole cites one unnamed person as saying its “allocation was for Kushner’s personal benefit.”
• A third account. The excerpt says the UAE made a separate transfer to Israel’s central bank to cover an Israeli pledge, which Kushner helped negotiate, to defend the UAE from a major Iranian attack.

Altogether, Cole writes, the two Gulf leaders put “at least $2 billion into at least two bank accounts for Kushner.” The excerpt argues that undisclosed signatory access could have broken federal disclosure rules. It also quotes an unnamed former Mueller prosecutor as saying a promise in return for the money could raise bribery and foreign-agent questions. Those are the author’s and his source’s legal theories. No court or agency has made any such finding.

Cole is open about how the story reached him: “In late spring 2020, a source I knew to be reliable called me with a story.” Every key financial claim in the excerpt is attributed to unnamed people. It reproduces no account statement or wire record.

What Kushner, his lawyers and the White House say

Kushner rejected the excerpt within hours of publication. “The allegations made by this author are completely insane and never happened,” he said, adding that no “bank statements, wire transfer records, account numbers, transaction dates, or other verifiable details” were offered to back them, as quoted by CBS News.

His attorney, Chad Mizelle, said his team sent Simon & Schuster a 13-page rebuttal before publication, TheWrap reported. An Oct. 23 letter to Vanity Fair’s parent company, quoted by Newsweek, denies the claims one by one. It says Kushner “was never a signatory to, never had access to, and never knew of any ‘Alpha’ account at First Abu Dhabi Bank,” and that he “never received, controlled, or directed money from any foreign government.” The letter demands that the magazine take the excerpt down and preserve its records.

The excerpt itself prints several denials. Kushner’s counsel told Cole that “there are no accounts and never were.” David Friedman, the former U.S. ambassador to Israel who the book says relayed Kushner’s messages to Netanyahu, called the claims about him “100% false.”

The White House went further. President Trump told reporters, “It’s a false story. It’s a totally false story,” according to Newsweek. Principal deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said the story rested on “what two anonymous sources supposedly heard about, but never even saw for themselves.” Communications director Steven Cheung called the book fiction from a “failed spy thriller writer.”

How other newsrooms have handled it

The story spread quickly, but most outlets carried it with a clear warning. CBS News and TheWrap both said they had not independently verified the excerpt. The Jerusalem Post took its own write-up down, citing “significant factual questions,” and Axios correspondent Barak Ravid wrote that parts of the account “don’t add up,” Mediaite reported. Ravid questioned in particular whether an account like the one described could exist at Israel’s central bank.

Political reaction largely followed party lines. House Oversight Committee Democrats called the excerpt “the latest in a series of serious allegations” against Kushner and said he should answer them publicly. Administration officials and Trump allies called it a smear. We found no public comment from the Dutch government or the MIVD, and no reply from Vanity Fair to the takedown demand as of Oct. 24.

What is documented about Kushner and Gulf money

The book’s claims are new and unproven. Kushner’s financial ties to Gulf governments after he left the White House are not. Those ties are public, and they explain why the excerpt drew so much attention.

• The 2021 Saudi investment. Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund invested $2 billion in Kushner’s private equity firm, Affinity Partners, in 2021, CNN reported. Rep. Robert Garcia has said publicly that the crown prince overruled his own investment advisors to approve it. No court or agency has found wrongdoing in that investment.
• Fundraising while serving as envoy. In March 2026, Garcia and Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden wrote to the White House and Affinity. Their letters followed reports that Kushner was raising money from Gulf sovereign funds while co-leading Middle East talks. CNN reported that neither Kushner nor Affinity answered.
• Israeli defense holdings. In October 2026, CNN traced investments by Phoenix Financial, an Israeli firm in which Affinity holds a stake, into defense contractors. CNN said it found no sign that Kushner’s diplomacy affected those investments, and Kushner called the story “deeply misleading.”
• The security clearance. In 2019, the New York Times reported that Trump ordered his chief of staff to give Kushner a top-secret clearance despite concerns from intelligence officials, CNN relayed. A spokesperson for Kushner’s lawyer disputed that account.

The Democrats’ letters carry no legal force. Minority requests can be ignored, and only a committee chair or committee vote can issue a subpoena, CNN noted. Our look at what Democrats say they would investigate with a House majority covers that question.

What to watch next

• Oct. 27: the book’s scheduled publication. The full text may show more about Cole’s sourcing than the excerpt does.
• A lawsuit, or not: Mizelle has threatened legal action, but Newsweek reported that nothing it reviewed showed a lawsuit had been filed.
• Vanity Fair’s response: whether the magazine defends, amends or removes the excerpt.
• Official inquiries: we found no announced government investigation into the excerpt’s specific claims.

Mizelle, for his part, says he welcomes outside checking and urges any outlet repeating the claims to “demand the same documentation.” That is the standard this article applies. Each claim above is attributed to the excerpt, a named official or a news outlet, and none is presented as established fact. More on the family’s Gulf ties is in our explainer on Kushner’s Gulf crypto connections.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the Vanity Fair excerpt about Jared Kushner claim?

The excerpt, from Matthew Cole’s book Princes and Thieves, claims Dutch military intelligence could see Kushner’s iPhone screen from 2018 and that Saudi and Emirati leaders put at least $2 billion into accounts tied to him, including a UAE account of about $750 million on which he was a signatory. The claims rest on unnamed sources and have not been independently verified by other news outlets.

Has Jared Kushner responded to the allegations?

Yes. Kushner called the allegations completely insane and said they never happened. His lawyer, Chad Mizelle, says no bank statements or wire records were produced, sent Vanity Fair and Conde Nast a letter on Oct. 23 demanding the excerpt be taken down, and says he intends to pursue legal action. As of Oct. 24, no lawsuit had been reported as filed.

Is any of this connected to Kushner’s Affinity Partners fund?

Not directly. The excerpt covers Kushner’s years in the White House, 2017 to 2021. Separately, it is publicly documented that Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund invested $2 billion in Affinity Partners in 2021, after he left the White House. That investment has drawn congressional letters, but no court or agency has found it unlawful.

When is the book Princes and Thieves released?

Simon & Schuster’s Atria/One Signal imprint is scheduled to publish it on Tuesday, Oct. 27.

Sources

• The Art of the Deal: Jared Kushner’s Hacked Phone Revealed His Secret Negotiations (book excerpt by Matthew Cole) — Vanity Fair, October 22, 2026
• Jared Kushner pushes back on report involving hacked phone, spies, billion-dollar transfer — CBS News, October 23, 2026
• Jared Kushner Threatens Legal Action Over Vanity Fair Book Excerpt — TheWrap, October 23, 2026
• Jared Kushner Threatens Legal Action Over Vanity Fair Claims — Newsweek, October 24, 2026
• Donald Trump Responds to $2 Billion Jared Kushner Allegation: ‘Totally False’ — Newsweek, October 23, 2026
• Political World Piles on Vanity Fair’s Bombshell Jared Kushner Report — Mediaite, October 23, 2026
• Ranking Members Robert Garcia and Ron Wyden Investigate Jared Kushner Raising Billions from Middle East Governments — House Oversight Committee Democrats, March 19, 2026
• Top House Oversight Democrat seeks answers about Kushner’s Israeli investment following CNN report — CNN (via KION), October 6, 2026
• Rep. Garcia: Why Did Saudi Government Give Kushner $2 Billion? — Office of Rep. Robert Garcia, September 2023
• New York Times: Trump demanded Kushner get top-secret security clearance — CNN (via TMJ4), February 28, 2019

This article is news reporting and analysis based on the public sources listed above, as they stood on the dates shown. Where officials, lawmakers or analysts disagree, including on whether an action is lawful, their positions are attributed to them; Donald Trump Class Action is not a court and nothing here is legal advice. Facts in a developing story can change.