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‘The Whole Country’s Going to Get Blown Up’: Trump Renews Genocidal Threats to Iran as Ceasefire Collapses

Original article by Stephen Prager republished form Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

US President Donald Trump addresses a Turning Point USA event at Dream City Church in Phoenix, Arizona, on April 17, 2026. (Photo by Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

“Whether he means it or not, his saying it is an indelible moral stain on our country,” said one law professor.

President Donald Trump on Sunday renewed his threat to carry out a genocidal attack on Iran, pledging to “blow up” the “whole country” of over 90 million people and to demolish critical civilian infrastructure if it does not sign a peace deal by Wednesday.

“If they don’t sign the deal, then the whole country is going to get blown up,” Trump said, according to Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst, who relayed the comments on air Sunday morning.

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Trump also reportedly said that the US was “preparing to hit [Iran] harder than any country has ever been hit before because you cannot let them have a nuclear weapon.”

The comments came after Iran once again closed the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday in response to the continued US blockade of Iranian ports, which Iranian officials said violated the terms of the agreement reached between the two countries.

After renewing the blockade, Iranian gunboats fired upon a pair of Indian-flagged ships attempting to travel through the strait Saturday.

In response, Trump issued a furious post on Truth Social Sunday morning, saying that he would send a team of negotiators—Vice President JD Vance, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff—to Islamabad on Monday for another round of negotiations.

“We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran,” Trump wrote. “NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!”

“They’ll come down fast, they’ll come down easy and, if they don’t take the DEAL, it will be my Honor to do what has to be done, which should have been done to Iran, by other Presidents, for the last 47 years,” he continued.

It echoed the similarly genocidal threat made by Trump earlier in April that “a whole civilization will die… never to be brought back again,” if Iran did not agree to a deal, which drew worldwide condemnation and sparked efforts by some members of Congress to pursue impeachment or push for Trump’s cabinet to remove him via the 25th Amendment.

https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/116431297579272777/embed

Trump has appeared eager to end the war with Iran after it caused economic upheaval and pushed his already dire approval rating even lower. But he has also backed Israel when it sought to undermine key points of the agreement, prompting retaliation from Iran.

The ceasefire announced earlier this month between the US and Iran initially included a halt to the hostilities between Israel and Lebanon. But within hours, Israel unleashed its most punishing set of attacks against Lebanon since the war began in March. Trump then backed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he claimed that Lebanon was never part of the deal.

Iran only agreed to open the Strait of Hormuz on Friday after Israel and Lebanon appeared to agree to a 10-day ceasefire. But Israel has already violated that agreement several times, continuing to raze Lebanese villages and fire upon people approaching its newly imposed “yellow line.”

In addition to calling for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which was open before he launched the war in late February, Trump has demanded that Iran make a deal to hand over all of its enriched uranium, which he refers to as “nuclear dust.”

A spokesperson for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has said such a proposal would violate Iran’s sovereignty: “Iran’s uranium is Iran’s asset. It is our responsibility, our energy, our sovereign right.”

An end to the attacks against Lebanon has been described as another central demand from Iran, although officials said the decision to close the strait again on Saturday was in response to Trump’s continued blockade of Iranian ports.

International law strictly prohibits indiscriminate attacks on civilian infrastructure with no military objective, including bridges and power plants that are critical to human life.

Trump’s previous threats to bomb Iran “back to the Stone Ages” suggest that the latest threats are less about accomplishing a specific military objective than about inflicting suffering on Iranian society as leverage.

Last time Trump made such a threat, a coalition of more than 200 groups, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Refugees International, and Oxfam America, wrote in an urgent letter stating that if carried out, such attacks would constitute “a grave atrocity” and that “a threat to wipe out ‘a whole civilization’ may amount to a threat of genocide.”

Human Rights Watch said that, if acted upon, “the statement could be indicative of criminal intent if Trump were ever prosecuted by the International Criminal Court.

The last time Trump threatened to unleash an apocalyptic attack on Iran, the threat preceded a deal that, at least in principle, involved the US agreeing to negotiate based on a set of terms laid out by the Iranians. This led many observers to characterize the threats as bluster meant to save face before capitulation rather than a sincere pledge to annihilate Iran.

However, Adil Haque, a law professor at Rutgers and the executive editor at Just Security, said that, “Whether he means it or not, his saying it is an indelible moral stain on our country.”

Original article by Stephen Prager republished form Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel's genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism "without qualification". Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
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Continue Reading‘The Whole Country’s Going to Get Blown Up’: Trump Renews Genocidal Threats to Iran as Ceasefire Collapses

In Third Boat Strike This Week, US Kills 3 People in ‘Entirely Make-Believe’ Armed Conflict Against Cartels

Original article by Julia Conley republished form Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks during a press briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, on April 8, 2026. a(Photo by Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Customs and Border Protection data offers little evidence that the killing of at least 177 people in recent months has stopped drugs from reaching the US.

As Republicans and several Democrats in the US Senate gave the go-ahead for the US to send more bombs and military equipment to Israel for its attacks on Gaza and Lebanon on Wednesday, the Trump administration was continuing what it claims is an effort to rid Latin American countries of drug traffickers—killing three people aboard a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean in the US military’s third boat bombing in three days.

The US Southern Command posted a video on social media of the bombing, which it said targeted a boat that was “transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations.”

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As with the 50 previous attacks on boats in the Pacific and the Caribbean Sea, the military did not publicize any evidence that the boat was carrying drugs or that its passengers were “narco-terrorists.”

A small number of the at least 177 victims of the Trump administration’s boat bombings have been identified. The Associated Press reported in November that Robert Sánchez, who was killed in the Caribbean, was a 42-year-old fisherman who made $100 per month and had started helping cocaine traffickers navigate the sea due to economic pressures. Juan Carlos Fuentes was an out-of-work bus driver who also worked as a “drug runner” to make ends meet.

The families of at least two victims have filed legal complaints over the killings of their family members, saying they were fishermen.

Adam Isacson of the Washington Office on Latin America has compared the boat bombings, assuming they have targeted people involved in the drug trade at all, to “straight-up massacring 16-year-old drug dealers on US street corners.”

On Wednesday, Isacson noted that while Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have defended the boat bombings as attacks that will protect Americans from the flow of drugs like cocaine and fentanyl into the US—with the president informing Congress that the White House views the country as being in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels—data from US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shows little evidence that the strikes are stopping drugs from reaching the US.

“CBP’s seizures of fentanyl at the US-Mexico border had been declining, often sharply, since mid-2023. But since early 2025, the declines stopped,” said Isacson. “Halfway into fiscal 2026, seizures are almost exactly half of 2025’s full-year total: a flat trendline.”

Following Wednesday’s bombing, at least 14 people have been killed in boat strikes in five days.

Brian Finucane of the International Crisis Group emphasized Wednesday night that “despite the administration’s rhetoric and bogus legal theories, the supposed armed conflict with ‘narco-terrorists’ appears to be entirely make-believe.”

Under international law, drug trafficking is treated as a crime, with US law enforcement agencies in the past intercepting boats suspected of smuggling drugs and arresting those on board. A coalition of rights organizations sued the Trump administration in December, demanding documentation of the White House’s legal justification for the boat bombings and arguing that for any organization to be considered part of “armed conflict” with the US, it must be an “organized armed group” that is engaged in “protracted armed violence” with the country.

“Murder,” said Finucane, “is the general term for premeditated killing outside of armed conflict.”

Original article by Julia Conley republished form Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

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Human Rights Groups Demand Ireland Stop Letting Trump Use Airport for ‘Unlawful’ ICE Flights

Original article by Stephen Prager republished form Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

A group of detainees board an Eastern Air Express flight at Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport on January 11, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. At least five of these deportation flights have refueled at the Shannon Airport in Ireland. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

“If Ireland is facilitating the monstrous ICE project, then we fear the government has lost its way. Rather than cower and capitulate, it must show courage, compassion, and principle,” said the head of Amnesty International Ireland.

A pair of human rights groups on Thursday called for the Irish government to stop letting the administration of US President Donald Trump use Shannon Airport as a refueling stop for Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s deportation flights.

In a joint letter to Ireland’s transport minister, Darragh O’Brien, and foreign affairs and trade minister, Helen McEntee, Amnesty International Ireland and Human Rights First urged the Irish government to stop cooperating with President Donald Trump’s efforts to deport migrants to third countries.

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Using data from its ICE Flight Monitor, Human Rights First determined that Shannon Airport has been used to refuel deportation planes during at least five of these removal operations, which involved what the groups described as “transfers of individuals to countries… they have no ties to and where they have faced arbitrary and prolonged detention and other abuse.”

After one of the flights in May 2025, eight migrants from several countries, including Cuba, Mexico, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, and Sudan—some of whom had legally been resettled as refugees—were dropped in the East African nation of Djibouti. There, they were held in a shipping container at a US base for at least six weeks before being sent to war-torn South Sudan, where they were promptly detained by authorities. Six of them remain in detention today, with little ability to communicate with their lawyers.

Another group of five men from Cuba, Yemen, Vietnam, and Laos was taken to the southern African country of Eswatini in July. Four of them remain in state custody more than eight months later, despite the authorities giving no official reason for their ongoing detention.

Another flight stopped in Ireland on its way back from dumping eight Palestinian men, who were shackled for the entire journey, on the side of the road in the occupied West Bank. Some of the men had green cards in the United States, and several had wives and children from whom they had been forcibly separated, despite facing no accusations of having committed a crime. Two such flights have taken place.

In total, the groups found that at least 28 migrants had traveled through the Shannon Airport on their way to third countries.

About 300 migrants have been sent to third countries as part of the Trump administration’s “mass deportation” campaign, according to a February report by Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The administration has spent more than $40 million, part of which has gone to countries willing to take in deportees, including Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, El Salvador, Eswatini, and Palau, each of which has received multimillion-dollar lump sums.Most infamously, the administration last year secretly sent more than 280 young men, most without criminal records, to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), a megaprison in El Salvador, where they were subjected to torture and cut off from communication with their families and lawyers for more than four months before a judge ordered most of them released.

Amnesty and Human Rights First have described this practice as a form of “enforced disappearance” under international law.

“To carry out its mass deportation campaign, the Trump administration is flouting international law and cutting deals with dictators. It is also endangering lives, through its opaque web of third country agreements to send people against their will to countries where they have no connection”, said Uzra Zeya, the CEO of Human Rights First.

“Beyond their cruelty, these agreements reflect a transactional foreign policy driven by xenophobia, and they undermine due process and human rights globally,” she said. “Ireland should play no part in facilitating these unlawful removals, including to third countries notorious for rights abuses.”

Shannon Airport has become a target of protest over its use as a hub for American military planes, which many in Ireland see as an affront to the country’s long history of military neutrality. It has previously come under scrutiny for helping transport detainees renditioned for torture by the CIA during the post-9/11 global War on Terror.

Last week, a man was arrested for allegedly breaking into the facility and damaging a US military plane that was en route to a bilateral military exercise in Poland, according to The New York Times. Though no motive has been made public, the incident evoked other acts of vandalism by anti-war activists opposed to the US military presence.

“People across Ireland and the world look on in horror as the Trump administration continues implementing its vile, racist, and xenophobic executive orders that dehumanize and criminalize people who are, or are perceived to be, migrants and refugees. The administration has brazenly violated the right to due process by unlawfully removing people and subjecting some to enforced disappearance,” said Stephen Bowen, the executive director of Amnesty International Ireland.

Following a request last month for it to stop US deportation flights from using Shannon to refuel, Ireland’s Department of Transport contended that under the 1944 Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation, US aircraft do not require permission to refuel at Shannon. Transport Minister O’Brien has said the US did not request authorization for the flights to land and that his department had no knowledge of them.

But Bowen says that even though states are not required to obtain permission to land, the convention still requires them to abide by international law, and that the Irish government ultimately has the power to decide how its sovereign airspace is used.

“The Department of Transport’s public responses are just not good enough,” he said. “There are depressing parallels with Ireland’s failure two decades ago to stop CIA-leased civil aircraft using Shannon as a stopover for rendition operations during the US ‘War on Terror’. Despite promises to ‘enforce the prohibition on the use of Irish airspace, airports, and related facilities for purposes not in line with the dictates of international law’, it appears that no concrete actions were ever taken.”

“The government’s timidity in its dealings with President Trump is already a cause for concern,” Bowen added. “If Ireland is facilitating the monstrous ICE project, then we fear the government has lost its way. Rather than cower and capitulate, it must show courage, compassion, and principle.”

Original article by Stephen Prager republished form Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

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Continue ReadingHuman Rights Groups Demand Ireland Stop Letting Trump Use Airport for ‘Unlawful’ ICE Flights

Israel Continues ‘Gaza Tactics’ in Lebanon, Leveling Villages and Homes in Violation of Ceasefire

Original article by Stephen Prager republished form Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

A woman surveys the damage to her home that was destroyed by an Israeli air-strike that killed seven of her neighbors in Nabatieh on the second day of a cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon, on April 18, 2026, in Nabatieh, Lebanon. (Photo by Ryan Murphy/Getty Images)

UN experts have said Israel’s “destruction of urban and village housing that displaced persons would have returned to, is consistent with the pattern of domicide that was initiated during the genocide in Gaza.”

Despite a ceasefire announced Friday, after US President Donald Trump said Israel was “PROHIBITED” from continuing to strike Lebanon, Israel continued to level villages and homes across southern Lebanon from Friday into Saturday in what has been described as a continuation of its “Gaza tactics.”

Just as it did in Gaza, Israeli Army Radio announced Friday night that Israel had established a “yellow line” in southern Lebanon about 10 kilometers north of the Israeli border, effectively allowing Israel to occupy about 10% of Lebanese territory and maintain control of 55 towns and villages.

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According to a report by Lebanon’s National Council for Scientific Research, Israeli forces have been destroying more than 1,000 homes per day since March 2, sometimes wiping out entire villages across southern Lebanon.

The campaign escalated later in the month after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the military to “accelerate the destruction of Lebanese homes” near the Israeli border based on the “model in Gaza,” where Israel has destroyed around 90% of all infrastructure and left most of the population sheltering in tents.

Israel has described this as an effort to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure. But the razing of entire villages has often appeared indiscriminate, and numerous attacks have targeted or damaged schools, hospitals, and other nonmilitary infrastructure. More than 40,000 homes have reportedly been destroyed or damaged.

Demolitions and land-clearing operations have continued after Friday’s ceasefire, according to reporters on the ground in Lebanon for Al Jazeera. Israeli artillery also reportedly shelled areas around Beit Lif, al-Qantara, and Toul.

On Friday, Israel warned tens of thousands of displaced Lebanese civilians in southern Lebanon not to return to their homes despite the ceasefire, although some have begun to make the trek anyway. Many have found their former homes reduced to rubble.

“There’s destruction, and it’s unlivable,” said one resident who was displaced from his home in Nabatieh. “We’re taking our things and leaving again.”

Israel said Saturday that it had also carried out new airstrikes in southern Lebanon against people who approached the newly established yellow line. The Israeli military claimed that individuals crossed from north of the line toward Israeli troops, prompting “precise strikes” by air and ground forces against them.

An Israeli military statement described those approaching as “terrorists” who violated the ceasefire and said it carried out the strikes in “self-defense against threats.” However, it did not specify what threat those approaching the line posed.

Previous attacks that Israel has said were directed at Hezbollah fighters have devastated civilian areas in southern Lebanon, as well as Beirut and its surrounding suburbs.

According to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between military and civilian casualties, more than 2,167 people have been killed since Israel renewed its attacks in Lebanon on March 2.

In Gaza, despite a ceasefire, nearly 100 Palestinians have been killed near the yellow line since it was established in October 2025. Those killed have included at least 36 women, children, and elderly people, according to TRT World.

On Wednesday, a group of United Nations experts denounced what they called Israel’s “illegal aggression and indiscriminate bombing campaign” aimed at occupying land in violation of the UN Charter.

“The issuance of blanket evacuation orders, combined with the destruction of urban and village housing that displaced persons would have returned to, is consistent with the pattern of domicide that was initiated during the genocide in Gaza,” they warned.

On Saturday, a group of peacekeepers with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon also came under attack, resulting in the death of a French soldier. Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry condemned the attack and pledged to identify the “perpetrators.”

UN peacekeepers and French officials have said the attack was most likely carried out by Hezbollah, but Hezbollah has denied responsibility.

Israel’s continued attacks on Lebanon also threaten to derail not only its ceasefire with Lebanon but also the US ceasefire with Iran.

After the announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon on Friday, Iran briefly reopened the Strait of Hormuz to unrestricted travel. But on Saturday, following reports of Israel’s violations of the ceasefire, it was once again closed.

While Iranian officials said the proximate reason for the closure was the continuation of US President Donald Trump’s blockade of the strait, they have also indicated that they want Israel to stop attacking Lebanon as part of the ceasefire.

Original article by Stephen Prager republished form Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel's genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism "without qualification". Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
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UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
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Continue ReadingIsrael Continues ‘Gaza Tactics’ in Lebanon, Leveling Villages and Homes in Violation of Ceasefire

‘Financial Pawn of the Saudi Monarchy’: House Judiciary Opens Probe Into Jared Kushner

Original article by Jon Queally republished form Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Senior Advisor to the President Jared Kushner speaks during the daily briefing on the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, in the Brady Briefing Room at the White House on April 2, 2020, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mandel Ngan / AFP via Getty Images)

“You cannot faithfully represent the United States with billions of dollars in Saudi and Emirati cash burning a hole in every pocket of every suit you own,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin.

The ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee on Friday morning announced a “sweeping” probe into alleged self-enrichment by Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump who has served as a high-profile White House envoy in the Middle East while also, according to Congressman Jamie Raskin, “soliciting billions of dollars from Gulf monarchies for [his] private business ventures.”

In a letter addressed to Kushner, the Maryland Democrat charges that by pushing for investments in his international investment firm, A Fin Management LLC (Affinity), while also serving as “Special Envoy for Peace” for the Trump administration, he has created “a glaring and incurable conflict of interest” in the eyes of the American people.

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While Raskin points out that Kushner repeatedly vowed to stay out of government during Trump’s second term and, going further, said he would not raise funds for Affinity during that time, both promises were “quickly” broken.

In April of 2022, the New York Times reported how Kushner had secured a $2 billion investment from a sovereign wealth fund directed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MbS. In 2018, during Trump’s first term, investigations were demanded over accusations that previous financial ties meant that MbS had Kushner “in his pocket.”

According to Raskin’s letter on Friday:

Mr. Kushner’s investment firm, Affinity Partners, has amassed approximately $6.16 billion in assets under management—including $1.2 billion in the past year alone—with an extraordinary 99 percent of its funding derived from foreign nationals. These include sovereign wealth funds operated by the governments of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. At the same time, Mr. Kushner has assumed a central role in sensitive geopolitical negotiations across the Middle East and beyond.

Despite explicit public assurances that he would avoid both government service and fundraising during President Trump’s second term, Mr. Kushner has done precisely the opposite. He has inserted himself into the world’s most volatile global conflicts as one of the United States’ chief negotiators all while deepening his financial reliance on, and entanglement with, foreign governments.

Citing the horrific US complicity in Israel’s ongoing attacks on Gaza as well as Trump’s illegal war of choice against Iran, Raskin’s letter to Kushner charges that “your decision to play completely irreconcilable and unethical dual roles has been haunting American foreign policy since President Trump returned to Washington in 2025.”

Noting that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia remains “your largest investor through Affinity and thus possesses significant financial leverage over” Kushner, Raskin explains to the president’s son-in-law in his letter that “you cannot both be a diplomat and a financial pawn of the Saudi monarchy at the same time; you cannot faithfully represent the United States with billions of dollars in Saudi and Emirati cash burning a hole in every pocket of every suit you own.”

Due to these concerns, explained Raskin, the House Committee on the Judiciary investigation will probe “your conduct and that of your firm with the goal of learning information critical to reforming our bribery laws, conflict of interest provisions, other statutes and rules governing the conduct of government and special government employees, and FARA.”

Offering a list of requests, the letter demands that Kushner provide a detailed account of his communications with various investment partners and entities related to his business dealings and that of his work as special envoy to the president, with a deadline of April 30 to comply.

“This investigation will be a priority for our Committee in the coming period,” Raskin’s letter states. “We expect your full cooperation and that you will provide us with all relevant documents that touch upon how your business interests, family wealth, and governmental duties and missions have merged and converged.”

Original article by Jon Queally republished form Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

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Continue Reading‘Financial Pawn of the Saudi Monarchy’: House Judiciary Opens Probe Into Jared Kushner