U.S. officials gave a warning to Jared Kushner last year that his wife, Ivanka Trump’s close friend Wendi Deng Murdoch could be using the relationship to benefit China, according to a new report.
The report centers around what officials believed to be Murdoch’s advocacy for a multimillion Chinese Garden in Washington, D.C. that raised security concerns.
The story brings together one of President Donald Trump’s chief campaign trail nemeses, China, as well as a close Trump advisor, media mogul Rupert Mogul, who filed for divorce against his wife in 2013 and who helped fuel Donald Trump’s rise through Fox News.
Officials raised concerns after a counterintelligence assessment that Deng Murdoch was lobbying on behalf of a giant Chinese garden to built at the National Arboretum located just a few miles northeast of the Capitol, theWall Street Journal reported Monday.
The $100 million project was deemed a security risk due to plans for a 100-foot tower that could be used to snoop on the city. Congress authorized the garden, but China planned the massive project in part as a way to win favor in the nation’s capital.
Wendi Deng, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump attend The New York Observer’s New Look Hosted by Jared Kushner and Joseph Meyer at Casa Lever on April 1, 2014 in New York City. Kusher got a warning about Deng Murdoch in 2017, according to a report
The counterintelligence officials provided the warning to Kushner, a real estate developer serving in government for the first time, at the start of Trump’s term, stressing ‘the need to be careful in his dealings with people whose interests may not align with those of the U.S,’ the paper reported.
Kushner’s wife, Ivanka, has vacationed with Wendi Deng, a businesswoman from China who was formerly a Murdoch executive and who now has U.S. citizenship.
Kushner was given a special portfolio dealing with China beginning in the transition. Kushner Companies, his family’s business, has come under scrutiny over a deal that went bust for Anbang Insurance Group Co. to purchase a stake in its trophy property in Manhattan.
GARDEN PARTY? A woman believed to be Wendi Deng Murdoch walks to the front door of the residence of Ivanka Trump and White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner in the Kalorama neighborhood of Washington, D.C. on Friday,
Ivanka Trump has done her own part for U.S.-China relations, after her father railed against the country for ripping off Americans in trade deals during the campaign.
She visited the Chinese embassy in Washington, and has posted videos of her daughter, Arabella, singing in Mandarin.
A Murdoch spokeswoman said she ‘has no knowledge of any FBI concerns or other intelligence agency concerns relating to her or her associations,’ and ‘has absolutely no knowledge of any garden projects funded by the Chinese government.’
A representative for Kushner and Trump told the paper it was a ‘routine senior staff security briefing and that Kushner ‘has complied with all ethics and disclosure recommendations and has played a helpful role in strengthening the U.S.-China relationship so as to help bring about a better resolution to the many issues the countries have.’
GARDEN SECRET: Wendi Murdoch (L) and Ivanka Trump attend the Women’s Brain Health Initiative Launch at Urban Zen on March 23, 2015 in New York City
Ivanka Trump and Wendi Deng Murdoch are longtime friends
Wendi Deng Murdoch (L) and Ivanka Trump are seen arriving at The Standard High Line on May 2, 2016 in New York City
Ivanka Trump posted pictures of Wendi Deng Murdoch on her Instagram account
PLAY BALL: Wendi Deng, Ivanka Trump attend the men’s final between Novack Djokovic of Serbia and Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland at Arthur Ashe Stadium on day 14 of the 2016 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 11, 2016
Ivanka Trump at the Chinese embassy in Washington
Chinese President Xi Jinping and First Lady Peng Liyuan attend a dinner hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in West Palm Beach, Florida
The Washington Post reported last April that garden backers ‘undoubtedly hope that the National China Garden will become a Washington landmark and achieve for Sino-U.S. relations what the gift of the Tidal Basin’s cherry trees has done for Japanese-American links for more than a century.’
The report continued: ‘The Chinese government is so anxious to have the garden that it has agreed to foot the entire bill, which approaches $100 million.’
Murdoch’s News Corporation owns the Journal.