WASHINGTON – A leading Washington ethics watchdog has sued Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, seeking to prevent him from continuing as one of the administration’s most prominent envoys unless he discloses his personal finances and potential conflicts of interest.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, argues that Kushner’s role as a key negotiator on major U.S. foreign policy matters makes him a government official. The group says he should therefore meet the same ethics and financial disclosure requirements as other federal employees.
Kushner and Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy, are widely viewed as President Trump’s closest and most influential diplomatic advisers. Neither has been confirmed by the Senate. Witkoff is formally employed by the government, although the wealthy investor does not receive a taxpayer-funded salary.
The White House has repeatedly maintained that Kushner remains a private citizen who carries out his diplomatic work on a volunteer basis.
CREW countered in its lawsuit that Kushner is representing the United States while also operating an investment firm responsible for managing billions of dollars in foreign-owned assets.
“While his personal business interests abroad raise serious conflict-of-interest concerns, he has not been properly vetted for his government role,” the legal complaint filed Wednesday said. “And he has evaded transparency obligations that aim to ensure that he exercises government authority for the good of the American people and not himself.”
The Constitution’s Appointments Clause and a post-Watergate ethics law are intended to ensure that federal officials undergo proper vetting and disclose their financial holdings.
Despite his unofficial status, Kushner has played a central role in some of the second Trump administration’s most significant foreign policy challenges, including the conflicts involving Israel and Hamas, Ukraine and Russia, and the United States and Iran. He was a principal negotiator of the peace plan reached by Israel and Hamas last year and frequently travels overseas to meet world leaders on behalf of his father-in-law.
Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, served as official government employees during Trump’s first administration and filed the required financial disclosures, even though neither received a salary. Kushner oversaw some domestic policy issues during that term, but his focus has shifted largely to foreign affairs during Trump’s second term.
Chad Mizelle, an attorney representing Kushner, said in a statement on X that the lawsuit was “without merit” and argued that CREW has no standing to bring the challenge.
CREW maintains that it has been directly harmed because Kushner’s role prevents the group from obtaining records that would otherwise be available from government officials.
“Both outside ethics counsel and government ethics attorneys have reviewed Jared Kushner’s volunteer government service and confirmed that his arrangements comply with applicable ethics requirements,” Mizelle said. He served as chief of staff at the Justice Department from the beginning of the second Trump administration before leaving government service last year.
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly, meanwhile, criticized CREW as an “unserious, Trump-deranged organization that has been attacking President Trump, his family, and his administration since the first term.”
Describing Kushner as a “proven dealmaker,” Kelly said his “personal business activities have nothing to do with his diplomatic engagements, which he conducts on a volunteer basis at the President’s request and while paying his own expenses.”
Kushner has previously dismissed concerns about potential conflicts of interest. In a CBS News interview last year, he said his business background and international financial relationships were assets rather than liabilities.
“What people call conflicts of interests, Steve and I call experience and trusted relationships that we have throughout the world,” Kushner said in the interview, referring to Witkoff. “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.”
Kushner was referring to the Israeli hostages released by Hamas as part of the October 2025 ceasefire agreement.
The lawsuit also names Witkoff, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in their official capacities.
