The Big Picture

12/11/2025

Now, Kushner is very much back, both on the world stage as a sort of second peace envoy under Donald Trump and as an investor in the attempted hostile takeover of Warner Brothers Discovery by Paramount Skydance.

What does this public re-emergence signal for Kushner, and what does it mean for Trump as he seeks to shore up post-presidential real estate deals abroad and consolidate media into a more Trump-friendly environment?

A ceasefire agreement was signed on October 12, which led to the release of hostages as part of Phase 1 of the deal. Whether the deal will hold remains unclear; Israel has continued its bombing campaign, and aid deliveries to Gaza have fallen short of the terms of the October agreement. But after Kushner met last month with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss next steps in the transition to Phase 2 of the agreement, a clearer picture of what’s in it for Kushner has emerged. And it’s not just his desire for world peace.

Kushner said the quiet part out loud when he told the Harvard Kennedy School of Government’s Middle East Initiative last year that “Gaza’s waterfront property could be very valuable.” He expanded on these designs this past October when he weighed in on “reconstruction plans” for the region, framing the rebuilding of a “new Gaza” as somewhere “to give the Palestinians living in Gaza a place to go, a place to get jobs, a place to live.”

This emphasis on construction sheds light on why Trump’s primary “peace envoy” in his second term is Steve Witkoff, another billionaire real estate developer.

This talk of billions in redevelopment opportunities in war-ravaged Gaza, now conveniently in the hands of the international negotiators, raises an important question elsewhere: What exactly are Kushner and Witkoff doing now at the heart of Trump’s Russia/Ukraine negotiations?

Just last week, Trump deployed Kushner and Witkoff to Moscow for five hours of direct negotiations with Vladimir Putin, with further talks in Miami. And while little progress was reported, particularly because the terms of the negotiations amounted to a Putin wishlist opposed by Zelenskyy, on Wednesday Reuters reported on what the Trump team’s play might be:

Proceeding with reconstruction of Ukraine after the destruction wrought by Russian air raids and frontline combat has become a major element in discussions on a settlement, along with security guarantees and concerns over territory.

“The principles of the economic document are completely clear and we are fully aligned with the American side,” Zelenskiy said.

“An important common principle is that for reconstruction to be of high quality and economic growth after this war to be tangible, real security must be at the core. When there is security, everything else is there too.”

When Trump seeks “peace” he and his envoys like Kushner also see dollar signs, all associated with the massive price tag to rebuild from the devastation of war.

The conflicts of interest are incalculable. After all, the greater the destruction, the more opportunities there will be to secure massive redevelopment funds to rebuild.

Put plainly, Kushner is now openly helping foreign countries—ones that he has close and deep personal financial ties to—purchase one of the crown jewels of U.S. news media. President Trump is openly signaling that he will put his finger on the scale of regulatory approval of the merger—meaning in favor of Paramount and against Netflix. And the new owners of CNN would be eager to do Trump’s bidding when it comes to who works at the network and what they get to say.

As with “peace talks” where Kushner now holds sway over the lives of millions, all so he can apparently steer enormous redevelopment opportunities toward himself and his friends, Kushner’s involvement in the bid to purchase CNN breaches every ethical wall. It hands Kusher’s father-in-law the final say over a deal that will make the Trump family even wealthier, all while putting free speech and American democracy itself at high risk if CNN falls under the control of Trump’s right-wing allies.

Jared Kushner has indeed returned to the public stage and inserted himself squarely at the center of major negotiations. And the sheer corruption and damage he has wrought is already breathtaking.