Lex Fridman Podcast | JARED KUSHNER | The Abraham Accords | VISION

𝑳𝑬𝑿 𝑭𝑹𝑰𝑫𝑴𝑨𝑵 𝑷𝑶𝑫𝑪𝑨𝑺𝑻 #𝟑𝟗𝟗 | 𝑰𝑺𝑹𝑨𝑬𝑳, 𝑷𝑨𝑳𝑬𝑺𝑻𝑰𝑵𝑬, 𝑯𝑨𝑴𝑨𝑺, 𝑮𝑨𝒁𝑨, 𝑰𝑹𝑨𝑵, 𝑨𝑵𝑫 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑴𝑰𝑫𝑫𝑳𝑬 𝑬𝑨𝑺𝑻
The following is a conversation with Jared Kushner, former senior advisor to the president during the Donald Trump administration and author of Breaking History, A White House Memoir. He's one of the most influential and effective presidential advisors in modern history, helping to negotiate with some of the world's most powerful leaders and deliver results on trade, criminal justice reform and historic progress towards peace in the Middle East.

On Thursday 5th October, we recorded conversations about war and peace, history and power in the Middle East and beyond. This was about a day and a half before the Hamas attack on Israel and we felt we needed to sit down again on Monday 9th October and add a discussion of the current situation. We open the podcast with a second, newly recorded part. My heart goes out to everyone who has suffered and is suffering in this war. I pray for your strength and for the long-term peace and prosperity of the Israeli and Palestinian people.

Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Office of Government Ethics expressing concern that Kushner's appointment to a White House position could violate federal nepotism and conflict of interest laws. Enacted in 1967, 5 U.S.C. § 3110, the federal anti-nepotism law, prevents a government official from giving a job "to a civilian position in the agency in which he serves or over which he exercises jurisdiction or control." The Trump transition team argued that the law did not apply to the White House because it was not a government agency.

On 20 January 2017, the US Department of Justice found that Trump's hiring of Kushner did not violate federal nepotism laws. A DOJ official described the department's decision, saying, "We believe that the President's special hiring authority in 3 U.S.C. § 105(a) permits him to make appointments to the White House Office that the anti-nepotism statute might otherwise forbid."

❛𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗵𝗮𝗺 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀, 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗦𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟬, 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗯𝗹𝘆 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝗺𝗽'𝘀 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘆 𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗶𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗜𝘀𝗿𝗮𝗲𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗿𝗮𝗯 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝟮𝟱 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀.❜

𝙃𝙀𝙍𝙀 𝘼𝙍𝙀 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙏𝙄𝙈𝙀𝙎𝙏𝘼𝙈𝙋𝙎
✦ Recorded on Mon, Oct 9 ✦
0:00 - Introduction
1:17 - Hamas attack on Israel
4:10 - Response to attack
10:28 - History of Hamas
13:09 - Iran
14:55 - Al-Aqsa Mosque
21:20 - Abraham Accords
30:14 - Trump vs Biden on Middle East
39:15 - Israeli-Saudi Normalization
43:26 - How the Israel-Gaza war ends
47:44 - Benjamin Netanyahu
51:21 - Palestinian support
54:01 - Trump 2024
57:30 - Human nature
✦ Recorded on Thu, Oct 5 ✦
1:04:28 - Geopolitics and negotiation
1:13:10 - North Korea
1:21:50 - Personalities of leaders
1:28:25 - Government bureaucracy
1:34:11 - Accusations of collusion with Russia
1:43:50 - Ivanka
1:49:45 - Father
1:58:28 - Money and power
2:07:11 - Trust and betrayal
2:16:12 - Mohammed bin Salman
2:38:31 - Israeli–Palestinian peace process
2:53:01 - Abraham Accords and Arab-Israeli normalization
2:59:15 - $2 billion Saudi investment
3:03:07 - Donald Trump
3:08:13 - War in Ukraine
3:13:29 - Vladimir Putin
3:20:48 - China
3:39:04 - Learning process
3:45:34 - Hope for the future