As Trump deals with the hangover of his presidency, Jared Kushner is striking out alone, touring the Middle East and soliciting funds for his new PE firm

• Jared Kushner worked closely with Middle Eastern powers while advising Trump in the White House.
• Since leaving, Kushner has deepened his financial and political links in the region.

Former President Donald Trump and Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and former advisor, have been busy since departing the White House just over a year ago.

In Trump's case, prosecutors in Washington, DC, and New York are pursuing investigations into his businesses, and the House January 6 committee is scrutinizing his role in the Capitol riot.

Kushner, meanwhile, has been mostly out of the public eye, shifting his focus from Washington to the Middle East.

Kushner, who moved to Miami's "Billionaire Bunker" after Trump's presidency, has doubled down on the links he created in the Middle East while working in the White House, reportedly courting regional powers for investment for his new private equity firm and founding an initiative to build on the success of his brainchild, the Abraham Accords.

The accords saw Israel normalize ties with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in August 2020 following decades of angst between Jerusalem and Arab nations over the Palestine question. The agreement was widely praised, and Kushner has been nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize for it.

Kushner has moved to capitalize on the success.

'He can't live his life just waiting on what [Trump] may or may not do'

Establishing himself as a regional peace broker, Kushner set up the Abraham Accords Institute for Peace last May to help deepen links between Israel, the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco. Kushner is also writing a book about his time in the White House, which is said to focus on the accords.

He's also sought to strike out financially in the region, launching his own private equity fund, Affinity Partners, in July and courting investment from the sovereign wealth funds of the Middle Eastern nations with which he worked closely in the White House.

As of January 2022, Kushner had secured $3 billion in verbal commitments, Axios reported.

The identities of the investors are not publicly known, but The New York Times reported last November that Kushner struggled to drum up investment from some of the nations on which he focused so closely while in the White House.

The UAE declined to invest, The Times said, as did Qatar, citing Kushner's support of the four-year blockade of the country waged by the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia, helmed by Kushner's good friend Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, might have helped, though: Axios reported that some of the $3 billion had come from "foreign sovereign wealth funds." Project Brazen, a news outlet founded by the former Wall Street Journal reporters Bradley Stone and Tom Wright, reported in October that Kushner was in talks to secure $2 billion from the kingdom's Public Investment Fund, which is chaired by MBS.

The UAE Media Office, Qatar Investment Authority, and the PIF did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

The Kushner-MBS bromance continues outside the White House

Kushner and MBS are on a first-name basis, texting often and informally when Kushner was in the White House, The Times reported. In 2017, MBS gifted Kushner two swords and a dagger worth $48,000, The Times said. In 2018, Kushner defended MBS following the murder of Washington Post writer Jamal Khashoggi.

It appears that MBS and Kushner remain close, with Bloomberg reporting that Kushner met MBS in Saudi Arabia during a tour of the Middle East earlier this year.

According to Bloomberg, the trip "mixed personal travel and business," but wasn't related to securing funding for Affinity Partners.

While in Saudi Arabia, Kushner also met with Amin Nasser, CEO of the Aramco oil giant, to discuss renewable investments, Bloomberg said. The outlet added that Kushner still hoped to secure investment for Affinity Partners from the PIF.

Kushner then visited Dubai, where he visited the 2020 Expo, and then traveled on to Qatar, Bloomberg said. The purpose of those stops was unclear.

Kushner looks to life beyond Trump

Trump has teased at a run for president in 2024, but Kushner's activities in the Middle East show he isn't putting all his eggs in that basket.

"Jared's intention is for this [Affinity] to be his long-term opportunity and, other than the book he has coming out, he's spending most of his time on it," a source close to Kushner also told Axios.

Affinity Partners and its potential backers may raise ethical questions should Kushner return to work in the White House, but there's no guarantee he will follow Trump.

"He can't live his life just waiting on what [Trump] may or may not do ... People wouldn't have joined the firm if they thought Jared is going to leave in a couple years."