美国国家公共电台 NPR Kushner Family Business Pitch In China Prompts Questions About Investor Visas

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Anybody in business can tell you that connections matter. And if you want a connection to the president of the United States, what better way than through his family? Jared Kushner is the president's son-in-law and close adviser 1. His sister went to China and made a pitch to investors 2 over the weekend. Reporters were watching the session, which promoted her company's ties to the White House. NPR's Jackie Northam reports.

JACKIE NORTHAM, BYLINE 3: The pitch made by Jared Kushner's sister, Nicole Meyer, to Chinese investors in Beijing and Shanghai was clear. Their $500,000 investment towards a real estate project in New Jersey 4 could earn them a path to residency in the U.S. But the pitch came with a sweetener. Meyer talked about the Kushner family, including her brother, who holds a powerful position in the White House as senior adviser to President Trump 5. Larry Noble with the Campaign Legal Center says the marketing 6 push was inappropriate.

LARRY NOBLE: This is not unheard of where in other countries, the way you get to the leader is by financially supporting the family, even if none of the money goes directly to the leader. And the perception is that what you're getting a chance here is to basically do business with the government or the family of people high up in the government. And that's - it's a very valuable thing in a lot of other countries to be able to do that.

NORTHAM: The law firm representing Jared Kushner says their client has no involvement in the project being pitched by his sister. And a spokesperson for Kushner Companies said Nicole Meyer apologized if the mention of her brother was in any way interpreted as an attempt to lure 7 investors. Jared Kushner had been running the family business until he went to the White House. That's when he resigned from the daily operations and sold assets in some projects to family members.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer says Kushner has taken necessary steps to prevent conflicts of interest.

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SEAN SPICER: Jared has done everything to comply with the ethics 8 rules to make sure that had nothing to do with him, per se. He wasn't involved.

NORTHAM: But Noble says this overlap 9 between the White House and family business, whether the Trumps 10 or the Kushners, can't be taken as just a single event.

NOBLE: We're seeing this over and over again. And the strong feeling is that they, the Trump family, the Kushner family, see the White House and being in the government as a marketing opportunity.

NORTHAM: Noble says that may send a signal to future administrations and government officials that they too may run a business while in high office. Jackie Northam, NPR News, Washington.