Sources:

Jared Kushner Pushed to Inflate Saudi Arms Deal to $110bln

TEHRAN (defapress) – Donald Trump's reluctance to hold Riyadh accountable for the brutal murder of the Saudi journalist stemmed from a partly aspirational $110 billion arms deal between the US and Saudi Arabia that was inflated at the direction of Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, sources said.

News ID: 73971

Date: 27 November 2018 - 13:33

Kushner, in a bid to symbolically solidify the new alliance between the Trump administration and Saudi Arabia while claiming a victory on the president's first foreign trip to Riyadh, pushed US State and Defense officials to inflate the figure with arms exchanges that were aspirational at best, the officials said, ABC News reported citing two US officials and three former White House officials.

Secretary of Defense James Mattis supported Kushner's effort and ultimately endorsed the memorandum, according to a former NSC official familiar with the matter.

“We need to sell them as much as possible," Kushner told colleagues at a National Security Council meeting weeks before the May 2017 summit in Saudi Arabia, according to an administration official familiar with the matter.

Another US official said there was a back and forth between Kushner and Department of Defense and State officials on how to get to a larger number because the officials initially told Kushner that realistically they had about $15 billion worth of deals in works, based on the Saudi government's interest in a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-ballistic missile system and maintenance of other systems.

But even that order has not been fulfilled.

The Saudis have bypassed the September deadline for one of the pricier data-x-items on the list -- the THAAD missile defense system.

A spokesperson for the National Security Council said that the White House, State Department and Department of Defense worked "tirelessly" with their Saudi counterparts to come up with the arms outlined in the memo, based on "rigorous analysis of Saudi requirements and of optimal US solutions."

"This unprecedented level of cooperation and effort led directly to the Memorandum of Intent, which was signed at the summit," an NSC spokesperson said in a statement. "The administration continues to make progress on the $110 billion in intended arms sales announced in May 2017."

Kushner declined to comment for this story.

Kushner had taken the lead on organizing the trip because of his close relationship with Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.

According to the Washington Post, the CIA has concluded that bin Salman ordered the murder of Khashoggi, but Trump has claimed that the CIA report "did not come to a conclusion."

Since the deal was signed by Mattis and bin Salman in Riyadh, there has been minimal activity toward purchasing the defense equipment and arms laid out in the arms agreements and signed. According to the Department of Defense, of the original $110 billion, Saudi Arabia has signed Letters of Offer and Acceptance valued at around $14.5 billion for equipment, including helicopters, tanks, ships, weapons, and training.

The memo of intent, seen by ABC News in a photograph and verified by a former White House official and first reported by the Washington Post last year, shows billion dollar price tags for what appears to be at vague deals far from being inked. Many of the details about the quantity and types of defense weapons to be purchased are not listed and are slated to be delivered after 2022 or have a “to be determined” delivery dates and quantities.

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