Timothy L. O'Brien, Columnist

How Did Jared Kushner Get $2 Billion From the Saudis?

Hint: It’s not because of his track record as an investor.

Jared Kushner cultivated ties with Saudi Arabia while he was working in the White House.

Photographer: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

Jared Kushner’s new private equity firm got $2 billion from Saudi Arabia because maybe that’s how you can cash in when your investing experience is slender but your father-in-law may wind up back in the White House. It’s also possible that you can get billions for a firm with no track record because the White House did favors for the Saudis when your father-in-law still occupied the Oval Office.

It’s probably a mix of both. Regardless, it’s certainly not a reflection of Kushner’s investing prowess. Before entering the White House as an adviser to former President Donald Trump, Kushner, 41, inherited wealth and his first adult job from his father, then botched his biggest gambit: vastly overpaying for a Fifth Avenue skyscraper soon before financial and real estate markets tanked.