The Serbian government has approved a controversial deal with Jared Kushner to build a luxury hotel on an abandoned NATO site, putting the businessman in direct contact with a foreign government as his father-in-law mounts a return to the White House. The deal, made through Kushner’s investment fund Affinity Partners, seeks to transform the former Yugoslav Ministry of Defense headquarters in Belgrade into a sprawling vacation complex and is in partnership with former Trump administration special envoy to the Balkans, Richard Grenell. Critics have raised concerns about the potential of a Trump son-in-law benefiting from foreign business deals if Trump retakes the White House in November. Kushner’s Affinity Partners is also backed by Saudi wealth, further complicating the financial connections to foreign governments that support the Serbia project. Kushner has maintained his right as a private citizen to pursue business deals with foreign governments, The New York Times reported, but he’s also reportedly playing a shadowy role as an adviser in Trump’s possible return to the presidency.
