White House denies probe into loans to Kushner company

WASHINGTON — The White House denied Tuesday that senior adviser Jared Kushner is under investigation by the White House Counsel’s office over possible ethical or criminal violations in connection with more than $500 million in loans made last year to his family real estate company.

The head of the government’s ethics agency had told a Democratic House member that White House lawyers had acknowledged they “had already begun the process” of looking into possible ethics and legal issues spawned by the loans. Kushner met last year with executives from the two companies that made the loans to Kushner Cos.

Even as White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders denied any formal investigation into Kushner, she acknowledged that the White House Counsel’s office often plays a role in checking whether ethics guidelines have been met by administration officials.

The acting director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, David Apol, did not say Kushner was under formal investigation, but had indicated that he was told by the White House that its lawyers were looking into whether the loans had spurred any ethics or legal concerns. Apol revealed the White House Counsel’s role in a letter sent last week to Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill.

Earlier Tuesday, Krishnamoorthi and Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., asked White House Counsel Don McGahn to provide documents showing results of the Kushner inquiry. Sanders would not say if the administration would comply with the oversight request.