Kushner rejects new book claims on hacked phone and foreign cash

President Trump's son-in-law is pushing back against a new book that details alleged security breaches and financial flows involving Middle Eastern leaders. Jared Kushner denied the central claims on Thursday night, calling the report baseless.

The book, titled "Princes and Thieves," asserts that Kushner had access to more than $2 billion in slush money funds from regional leaders. The author, Matthew Cole, suggests this money was intended to buy influence within the U.S. government.

An excerpt published in Vanity Fair describes how Dutch intelligence agents discovered a Russian hack of Kushner's iPhone in 2017. The spies reportedly accessed the device after turning a Russian agent. They could see his screen and captured every image he viewed during that period.

The account states that these agents watched Kushner log into a United Arab Emirates account. This account supposedly received hundreds of millions of dollars from a bank in Azerbaijan. The book claims that Saudi Arabia and the UAE deposited at least $2 billion into several bank accounts tied to Kushner, including one held at Israel's Central Bank.

Kushner and his legal team responded with sharp denials. "The allegations made by this author are completely insane and never happened," Kushner said. He noted that no bank statements, wire transfer records, or transaction dates were provided to support the claims.

His attorney described the claims as false and defamatory, stating plans to pursue legal action. White House director of communications Steven Cheung called the source book complete fiction on social media. He said the text offers no evidence, only mysterious words from unnamed sources.

The excerpt covers Kushner's role as a senior White House adviser during the first Trump administration. In that position, he helped negotiate major foreign policy deals involving Israel, the Gulf states, China, and Russia.