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President Trump
Donald John TrumpFranklin Graham: Trump Defends Christian Faith Trump Calls for "60 Minutes" Report on Family Separation ReportThe counselor and son-in-law, Jared Kushner
Jared Corey Kushner The ingredients for a successful prison reform are at the rendezvous, if the usual policy does not spoil the Trump Executioner urges McConnell to act in favor of the Criminal Justice Bill., told ABC News Monday that government officials should inflate their figures for an alleged $ 110 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia
Two US officials and three former White House officials told the network that Kushner had asked state and defense departments to raise the figure to $ 110 billion, including small arms sales. .
Saudi Arabia has so far signed only "letters of offer and acceptance" for $ 14.5 billion in sales of helicopters, tanks, ships, weapons and workouts, according to the Pentagon.
This figure, however, would have been inflated to try to consolidate the new alliance between the Trump administration and Saudi Arabia and represent a clear victory for the president's first trip abroad last year.
Secretary of Defense James Mattis
James Norman Mattis Five challenges facing Trump's army Trump asks the Supreme Court to hear a challenge to the military ban on transgender Nielsen, Kelly ran into immigration hawks about the order Trump Military Report also backed the sale of the exaggerated amount – announced in May 2017 when the United States signed a memorandum of intent with the Saudis to jointly pursue military sales overseas over the next 10 years, according to ABC. Mattis himself approved the memorandum, said a former National Security Council (NSC) official aware of the problem.
"We have to sell them as much as possible," Kushner reportedly told colleagues at a NSC meeting a few weeks before the trip.
Officials first told Kushner that the Pentagon had realistically about $ 15 billion worth of transactions, reported ABC. There was then a back and forth between Kushner and the representatives of the Defense and State Department on how to get a larger number, said another US official at the network.
The MOI apparently does not contain details on the quantity and types of defense weapons to be purchased, some with a "to be determined" label indicating the dates and quantities to be delivered.
Defense and state departments have given little details on the memo and there is no public breakdown of pending military sales abroad (FMS).
The five-page list of possible arms sales also indicates that the document "does not create any authority to perform work, award contracts," take out items from stock ", transfer funds, or compel or create a binding commitment in any way, either for the United States or for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. "
A State Department official told ABC that the list was made up of weapons that were of interest to Saudi officials, as well as equipment that US defense analysts had identified as a requirement for Riyadh.
Since the memo was signed, sales have changed little. The Saudis have missed a deadline set in September for one of the most expensive items on the list – the High Altitude Terminal Haute Zone Ballistic Missile System – with a potential value of $ 15 billion. No solid agreement is still in place.
A spokesman for the CNS said that the White House, state and defense departments were working "tirelessly" with their Saudi counterparts to develop the figure shown in the memo, based on reports from the USSR. a "rigorous analysis of Saudi requirements and optimal American solutions".
Military sales have been in the spotlight in recent months, with Trump doubling the diplomatic and financial ties between the United States and Saudi Arabia following the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The CIA announced earlier this month that she "had great confidence" that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered Khashoggi's death, but Trump tried to cast doubt on this analysis.
Trump said in a statement that "maybe" the Crown Prince ordered the murder or "maybe he did not do it." He also praised the kingdom as an "unwavering partner" and said the arms deal with the country "will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, tremendous economic development and additional wealth for the United States. United".
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