Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), the watchdog organization that uses litigation, investigations and public advocacy work to “demand accountability for undue political influence,” announced Wednesday that it has sued President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
While running his private equity firm, Kushner has also been serving the president in high-level diplomatic negotiations, alongside fellow billionaire real estate developer Steve Witkoff.
CREW wrote on social media: “We just sued Jared Kushner for unlawfully acting as one of the country’s top diplomats without undergoing Senate confirmation or filing financial disclosures. It’s abundantly clear that he should be blocked from performing this outsized role.”
[NOTE: In a September article in The New Yorker, Dexter Filkins encapsulated the gist of CREW’s complaint in a single sentence, writing that Kushner “represents a new kind of Washington figure, for whom public office serves as a means to extraordinary wealth.” He added that in “the past two years, an array of people linked to the White House—including Witkoff’s sons, the cryptocurrency adviser David Sacks, and other members of the Trump family—have used their official positions to bring in billions of dollars for themselves.”]
BREAKING: We just sued Jared Kushner for unlawfully acting as one of the country’s top diplomats without undergoing Senate confirmation or filing financial disclosures.
It’s abundantly clear that he should be blocked from performing this outsized role: https://t.co/tYtwh8qvoB https://t.co/LRwGtDtn0T
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) October 14, 2026
According to CREW, “The Appointments Clause requires that officers be vetted and approved by the Senate before taking office. And the Ethics in Government Act requires that individuals nominated to such positions file public financial disclosures” and “Yet since the beginning of Trump’s second term, Kushner has exercised significant diplomatic power at Trump’s direction despite never being confirmed by the Senate and never filing a single financial disclosure.”
Some elected Republicans have also criticized Kushner for leading global negotiations without Senate confirmation or oversight, including Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who said of Kushner and Witkoff in February, “I’m sure they’re good negotiators, but they’re not subject to Senate confirmation and they’re not subject to oversight.”
Tillis added, “It is suspect that you can negotiate an Ukraine peace, an Iranian situation, a Gaza situation, and whatever, and be the same two people. That doesn’t make any sense to me.”
@SenThomTillis tells me Ukraine/Iran/Gaza talks should not be spearheaded by Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff:
“Kushner and Witkoff are very accomplished business people. I’m sure they’re good negotiators, but they’re not subject to Senate confirmation and they’re not subject to oversight,”
He adds:
“It is suspect that you can negotiate an Ukraine peace, an Iranian situation, a Gaza situation, and whatever, and be the same two people. That doesn’t make any sense to me,”
This was today at @CFR_org
— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) February 25, 2026
CREW noted of Kushner, “He has represented the US in negotiations with foreign leaders and helped shape and implement US foreign policy—all while running an investment firm with billions of dollars in assets under management.”
As alleged in the lawsuit, Kushner’s ownership of the private investment firm Affinity Partners — which he opened in 2021, with an investment from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, after leaving the White House — “creates a potential conflict of interest with this diplomatic work. By the end of 2025, Affinity’s assets under management had surpassed $6 billion, with foreign investors accounting for about 99% of them.”
The White House has repeatedly said Kushner remains a private citizen and is doing his diplomatic duties on a volunteer basis, without salary, and Kushner has dismissed accusations of a conflict of interest regarding his Middle East diplomatic role and private investments.
Kushner told CBS News, “What people call conflicts of interests, Steve and I call experience and trusted relationships that we have throughout the world.”
He added, referring to the Israeli hostages who were freed by Hamas as part of the October 2025 ceasefire agreement, “If Steve and I didn’t have these deep relationships, the deal we were able to get done, that freed these hostages, would not have occurred.”
[NOTE: Witkoff is also named in the CREW lawsuit, as is Trump’s White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.]