Not MAGA TV: CBS Flaunts Book With Salacious Claims About Jared Kushner

On Friday, CBS Mornings was the lone broadcast network to use its lead morning show to promote the salacious, sordid claims from a new book excerpt dropped in Vanity Fair that alleged Russia had hacked into Jared Kushner’s phone while he worked in the first Trump administration, finding bank accounts containing money from multiple Middle Eastern countries as payment to buy his influence in setting global policy.

Needless to say, it’s curious this hadn’t leaked before late 2026, as this would be the kind of story that would cause CNN and their fellow liberal, elitist outlets to have thrills up their legs that’d linger for so long they’d need to seek medical attention.

Kushner’s team has vehemently denied the story, calling it fabricated and threatened legal action against the book’s author (Matthew Cole) and his publisher.

CBS promoted this anyway, starting with co-host Nate Burleson declaring that Kushner was “strongly bushing back on a new report involving hacked iPhones, international spies, [and] a billion-dollar bank transfer from foreign governments,” which Kushner said made for “$2 billion in slush funds[.]”

Homeland Security and Justice correspondent Nicole Sganga – whose Thursday Evening News story sought to kick dirt on the validity of the indictment against Democrat Virginia State Senator Louise Lucas – began by saying the “allegations spann[ed] Kushner’s time serving as a senior White House adviser during the first Trump administration.”

She continued: “Last night, Kushner and his legal team released fiery statements denying all accusations against him, calling them, ‘totally false and defamatory.’”

After clips of President Trump in his first term praising Kushner, Sganga laid out the “explosive” claims from Princes and Thieves: Jared Kushner and Mohamad bin Zayed’s Secret Plot to Remake the Middle East that “Kushner had access to billions of dollars in undisclosed foreign bank counts intended to pay for ‘influence within the U.S. government.’”

Sganga admitted CBS News has “not independently verified” the book’s tall tales, but still eagerly put them into the ether for the liberal viewers (click “expand”):

According to the excerpt from the book published in Vanity Fair but not independently verified by CBS News, Dutch intelligence agents learned the Russians had hacked Kushner’s phone in 2017, after flipping a Russian spy and began accessing Kushner’s phone as well. According to the report, “when Kushner used the phone they could see his screen.” “Almost as soon as they got inside, the intelligence service began capturing every image of Kushner’s screen as he cruised it.” The report alleges Dutch spies watched him log into a United Arab Emirates account that allegedly “had received hundreds of millions of dollars from a bank in Azerbaijan” and claims the leader of Saudi Arabia and the UAE “put at least $2 billion into two bank accounts” linked to Kushner, including an account with Israel’s central bank. According to the book excerpt, the money was often disguised as official government funding or charities, but was actually intended for off-the-books, diplomatic objectives, such as striking a deal to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The report also claims the crown prince put roughly $1 billion into at least one other account for Kushner, citing a “person with knowledge of the money,” saying “its allocation was for Kushner’s personal benefit.”

Only in the final moments did Sganga return to the denials (click “expand”):

Late yesterday, Kushner forcefully denied the accusations in the Vanity Fair excerpt, writing in part: “The allegations made by this author are completely insane and never happened. We denied every one of these claims on the record, yet the author failed to provide a single shred of evidence to substantiate any of them. No bank statements, wire transfer records, account numbers, transaction dates, or other verifiable details were provided to support these extraordinary accusations.” Kushner’s attorney said they “intend to pursue legal action against those responsible,” but did not specify exactly who[.]

Instead of parroting these claims with only bare-bones pushback, Sganga could have cited any number of skeptical voices, starting with Axios’s Barak Ravid, who’s arguably one of the most plugged-in reporters in the region:

Newsmax host Greta Van Susteren had her own questions: “For starters, why were the Dutch hacking Jared Kushner’s phone ? If they have extra time on their hands, maybe they should do something about the human trafficking in Aruba, which is part of the Dutch kingdom[.]”

Kushner attorney Chad Mizelle quoted over Van Susteren’s post, noting “[w]e have seen no evidence that this alleged hack ever occurred,” especially considering Kushner had received “numerous intelligence briefings” from his time in government.

“More importantly, even if his phone had been compromised, it would not have contained the purported banking information described in this story,” he added.

Mizelle hailed The Jerusalem Post for removing its article promoting Cole’s book:

Tablet’s Park MacDougald posted on X a Dutch news article about the book, saying it was “interesting” it “suggest[ed] that some version of the Kushner story has been floating around for a while—but that nobody has been able to confirm it even after ‘extensive research.’”

Kushner himself had a whole lot more to say in the X post, which Sganga left out (click “expand”):

During the period in question, I was one of the most scrutinized people in the world, subjected to intense media coverage, multiple congressional investigations, and a special counsel investigation. I voluntarily cooperated with these investigations, providing over 30 hours of testimony. None of these allegations ever surfaced, because none of these events ever happened.

These are outrageous fabrications being presented as investigative journalism. This is not journalism. It is a mixture of fantasy, fiction, and advocacy, written by someone who is either deeply disturbed or acting with sinister intent.

To see the relevant CBS transcript from October 23, click here.