Kushner Disputes Book's Phone and Gulf Money Claims

Jared Kushner says a coming book's account of a hacked phone and billions in Middle Eastern money never happened, and his lawyers plan to pursue legal action over the claims. The allegations appear in an excerpt published Thursday from journalist Matthew Cole's "Princes and Thieves: Jared Kushner and Mohamed bin Zayed's Secret Plot to Remake the Middle East."

The excerpt covers Kushner's time as a senior White House adviser during the first Trump administration, when he handled U.S. Middle East policy and worked on agreements involving Israel, the Gulf states, China and Russia. Cole's account says Dutch intelligence learned in 2017 that Russia had compromised Kushner's iPhone. The Dutch reportedly obtained access to the device after turning a Russian spy, and could see his screen as he used it while their service captured each image he viewed.

The excerpt says those agents watched him log into a United Arab Emirates account that had received hundreds of millions of dollars from a bank in Azerbaijan. It also alleges that Saudi Arabia and the UAE put at least $2 billion into several accounts linked to Kushner, one held at Israel's Central Bank, with the money intended for off-the-books diplomatic work. The report further claims Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman placed roughly $1 billion into at least one account for Kushner's benefit.

Kushner and his lawyers issued statements Thursday night denying the account. "The allegations made by this author are completely insane and never happened," Kushner said. He said his side answered every claim on the record but the author offered "not a single shred of verifiable evidence," noting no bank statements, wire transfer records, account numbers or transaction dates were provided. His attorney called the claims "false and defamatory" and said legal action would follow.

White House communications director Steven Cheung posted on X that the book is "complete fiction" and was fabricated by a "failed spy thriller writer." He said it offers no evidence or documentation, only "mysterious words from unnamed sources." CBS News has not independently verified the excerpt, and the White House directed inquiries to Cheung's post.