Jared Kushner pushed to inflate the Saudi armament deal to 110 billion dollars: sources

President Donald Trump's reluctance to hold Saudi leaders accountable for the brutal killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi stems from a $ 110 billion, partly ambitious, armaments deal between the United States and the United States. Saudi Arabia, which was inflated under the leadership of Trump's son-in-law and advisor, Jared Kushner, according to two US officials and three former White House officials.

Kushner, with the aim of symbolically consolidating the new alliance between the Trump administration and Saudi Arabia while claiming a victory during the president's first trip to Riyadh, has pushed state officials and Defense to inflate the character with weapons exchanges at best ambitious, the officials said. Defense Secretary Mattis backed Kushner's efforts and finally approved the memorandum, according to a former NSC official familiar with the case.

"We have to sell them as much as possible," Kushner told a national security council meeting a few weeks before the May 2017 summit in Saudi Arabia, according to an administration official familiar with the matter.

Carolyn Kaster / AP

Another US official said there was a back-and-forth between Kushner and the Department of Defense and state officials on how to reach a larger number because The officials first told Kushner that, realistically, they had entered into contracts worth about $ 15 billion, based on the government's interest in a THAAD system. and the maintenance of other systems.

But even that order has not been fulfilled.

The Saudis have passed the September deadline for one of the most expensive items on the list – the anti-ballistic anti-ballistic missile THAAD or High Altitude Terminal. A spokesman for the defense department said the sale had not been finalized yet.

A spokesman for the National Security Council said that the White House, the State Department and the Defense Department were working "relentlessly" with their Saudi counterparts to offer the weapons described in the memo, based on from a "rigorous analysis of Saudi requirements and American optimization". solutions. "

"This unprecedented level of cooperation and effort led directly to the memorandum of intent, which was signed at the summit," a spokesman for the CNV said in a statement. "The administration continues to make progress on the planned $ 110 billion arms sales announced in May 2017".

Kusher declined to comment on this story

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

According to the Washington Post, the CIA has concluded that bin Salman had ordered the assassination of Khashoggi, but Trump asserted that the CIA report "has not reached a conclusion".

Since the signing of the agreement by the Secretary of Defense, Mattis, and bin Salman, in Riyadh, activities related to the purchase of defense equipment and weapons stipulated in the agreements on weapons and signed were minimal. According to the Ministry of Defense, of the $ 110 billion of origin, Saudi Arabia has signed letters of offer and acceptance worth about $ 14.5 billion for equipment, including helicopters, tanks, ships, weapons and training.

Bandar Al-Jaloud / AFP / Getty Images

Many of these deals were negotiated under the Obama administration, but US officials have said Trump's diplomatic pressure has been effective in executing pending orders.

The note of intent, seen by ABC News on a photo and verified by a former White House official and reported for the first time by the Washington Post last year, indicates price tags of $ 39 billion for what appears to be a vague market, far from being inked. Many details on the quantity and types of defense weapons to be purchased are not listed and must be delivered after 2022 or have delivery dates and quantities to be determined.

In a statement released Wednesday, the Afghan president defended his decision to stand alongside Saudi Arabia, citing Saudi Arabia's investment in the US economy, including the vague agreement over weapons set out in the memorandum of intent.

"It's a record amount of money," Trump said.
"This will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, tremendous economic development and additional wealth for the US Of this $ 450 billion, $ 110 billion will be spent on the purchase of military equipment from Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and many other US defense contractors. "

The photo of the statement of intent shows an agreement between the two countries with very little legal weight.

He states: "This document does not create any authority to perform work, award contracts, take out of stock, transfer funds, or compel or create a binding commitment in any way, whether for the United States or the United Kingdom Saudi Arabia. "

The state official described the five-page list of potential arms sales as objects to which Saudi officials had expressed interest or were considered part of their needs by US defense analysts.

Mandel Ngan / AFP / Getty Images

In one case, the document requests that an undetermined amount of Mark VI patrol boats be delivered indefinitely at a cost of $ 2 billion.

Also on the list, a C-130 J aircraft for $ 5.8 billion, but with an estimated delivery between 2022 and 2026.

"They were asking us to put as much pressure as possible on the Saudis. [to buy American arms], Said a former head of the National Security Council. "It was clearly pushed the people of the Pentagon to see what was possible with the Saudis."

Brookings Institute's defense strategy expert, Michael O & # 39; Hanlon, who saw the photo of the letter of intent provided by ABC News, called it "amateur quality".

"He recognizes that this is not binding," O'Hanlon told ABC News.

"This is a multi-billion dollar transaction with three lines of short information as if it were meaningful. It's like you're taking notes on the back of a towel during dinner. This is not a contract. It is the idea of ​​putting all these figures in the interest of as many people as possible. "

A former senior official of the National Security Council said that it was not unusual to call for concrete results to be announced at major events, but the official said the scale and scope level of exaggeration of the figure of 110 billion dollars "unprecedented".

According to another former National Security Council official, it was not just about producing unprecedented results on the world stage, but also ensuring more favorable sales to US defense companies like Lockheed Martin and Boeing. . Weapons in Saudi Arabia have also made them available to US forces, said the former official.

"These details raise even more questions about what really motivates the Trump administration's refusal to repress Saudi Arabia's behavior," said Democratic Representative David Cicilline, a member of the Foreign Affairs Chamber. .

"If Jared Kushner has inflated the scale of this arms deal, we need to understand why, Congress should get to the bottom of it and work to impose tougher sanctions on the Saudi regime. our relations with Riyadh and cut off all assistance to Saudi efforts in Yemen have created a massive humanitarian crisis. "

When Trump hosted bin Salman at the White House last year, he published several names of the proposed weapons.

During his eight-year tenure, Obama signed agreements with Saudi Arabia on $ 115 billion worth of arms sales – some of which have not been finalized – without ever announcing them. a single package.

"Some of the things we are working on now, which have been commissioned and will soon be launched in construction and delivered: the THAAD system – $ 13 billion; C-130 aircraft, the Hercules, large aircraft – $ 3.8 billion; Bradley vehicles – it's tanks – $ 1.2 billion; and the P-8 and P-8 Poseidons – $ 1.4 billion, "said Trump.

Since the death of Khashoggi, Trump has insisted that the United States would be "stupid" to disrupt any potential sale of weapons to Saudis.

Tuesday, President Trump said: "China and Russia would like to buy $ 100 billion worth of military equipment to Saudi Arabia … it would be a beautiful, big and beautiful gift for Russia and China, they will not get it. "

A representative of the Saudi government did not respond to a request for comment.

ABC News & # 39; John Parkinson and Conor Finnegan contributed to this report.