Jared Kushner’s Middle East Role Not Affected By Robert Mueller’s Investigation Into His Business Deals

Nearly a month after President Donald Trump's maiden trip to the Middle East as the U.S. commander-in-chief, Jared Kushner, Trump's senior adviser, will travel to the region this week to try reach a peace deal between Israel and Palestinian people, a report said Sunday citing a White House official. Kushner will travel along with Jason Greenblatt, an assistant to Trump and special representative for international negotiations.

Trump's son-in-law will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. According to the White House official, who gave details about the trip on the condition of anonymity, Greenblatt was scheduled to arrive in the Middle East on Monday and Kushner will travel Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Kushner's trip to the Middle East also underlines the fact that ongoing expanding Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller has not affected Kushner's far-reaching policy portfolio. Also the investigation into Kushner's business deals has not stopped Trump from deploying his son-in-law as his representative overseas.

Read: Jared Kushner Becoming The Center Of Russia Investigation

In May, reports surfaced that Kushner was the focus of FBI's Russia investigation. Earlier in June, according to a report by the Washington Post, Mueller was probing Kushner's financial dealings, as a part of an investigation into Russian meddling in 2016 presidential election. Mueller's investigation is in its early stages. His spokesman Peter Carr told the publication the Special Counsel’s Office has undertaken stringent controls to prohibit unauthorized disclosures and will deal severely with any member who engages in this conduct.

Meanwhile, the White House official also told the Post not to expect much from Kushner's trip. "It is important to remember that forging a historic peace agreement will take time and to the extent that there is progress, there are likely to be many visits by both Mr. Kushner and Mr. Greenblatt, sometimes together and sometimes separately, to the region and possibly many trips by Israeli and Palestinian negotiators to Washington D.C., or other locations as they pursue substantive talks," the official said.

It will be Kushner's second visit to Israel in the last two months. In May, Kushner joined Trump, along with his wife Ivanka, on Trump's first official overseas visit to Israel. Kushner visited sites such as the Western Wall and Jerusalem's Holocaust Museum Yad Vashem along with Trump.

As the news of Kushner's upcoming visit to the Middle East broke, Twitterati criticized him for his inexperience in international affairs.

Kushner's exposure to the Arab world is limited to a few trips to Persian Gulf countries. Although Kushner has ties with Israel that are personal and religious, he is not very popular there. He holds strong views about the state of Israel, however, he has not been outspoken about the issues in the country, except in the editorials in the New York Observer, the newspaper he owned, the New York Times reported.

Read: Jared Kushner To Meet Senate Intelligence Committee Amid FBI’s Russia Probe

Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian leader involved in peace talks both with Israelis and internally, said Palestinians were skeptical of Kushner and Trump’s team generally, as they saw the duo was close only to the Israeli side.

"We need somebody who is really impartial,” the Times quoted Barghouti as saying. He also pointed out that it was unclear whether Kushner has ever visited a Palestinian area. “There is no indication he is interested in hearing from the other side," he said.