President Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner personally called the CEO of Lockheed Martin during a meeting with a Saudi delegation earlier this month to ask her to cut the price of a missile defense system, The New York Times reported Thursday.
The call was part of Kushner’s effort to secure a roughly $110 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia before Trump’s scheduled trip to the kingdom on Friday.
During the meeting with the delegation, Kushner determined that cost could prohibit the Saudis from purchasing a THAAD missile defense system, which is designed to shoot down intermediate-range ballistic missiles.
So in an unorthodox move, Kushner phoned Marillyn Hewson, the chief executive of Lockheed Martin, which manufactures THAAD, and asked her if her company could lower the cost of the antimissile system. She reportedly told him she would look into it, according to the Times.
While unusual, the phone call does not appear to break any laws. Lockheed Martin is the only company that makes the antimissile system, meaning that the contract would not be offered to another firm.
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Kushner called Lockheed CEO to personally negotiate better arms deal for Saudi Arabia https://t.co/yDg51pBW74 pic.twitter.com/dFOwCebLLU
— The Hill (@thehill) May 19, 2017
Don’t like these family members wielding power they legally don’t have.
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