"Davos in the Desert" is Saudi Arabia's charm offensive aimed at global financial elites, but its launch last year was marred by its close proximity to the gruesome murder and dismemberment of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, carried out at the personal behest of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who styles himself a progressive reformer. Read the rest

The property management company owned by Donald Trump's son-in-law and doer-of-hijinks Jared Kushner is accused by Maryland of unfairly charging thousands of people who live in their properties, and forcing residents to suffer in apartments infested with vermin and mold. Read the rest

Saeb Erekat is a Palestinian negotiator. The Palestinians and Jared Kushner, Trump son-in-law and ostensibly the man charged with attaining middle-east peace, have apparently not been talking much lately. Erekat explains why: “This White House needs giant statesmen, not real estate agents."

I told him ‘look: if you do this [move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem], you will have disqualified yourself from any role in the peace process.’

He replied: ‘Don’t threaten me.’

I said ‘read my lips: you will have disqualified yourself from any role in the peace process.’

He said ‘you don’t know the changes that are happening around you in the Arab world.’

I told him, ‘the best thing for me is to be a student — so teach me.’

‘DON’T BE SARCASTIC,’ he shouted.

I said ‘I’m not being sarcastic. What do you mean by changes? Do you think Arab countries will open embassies in Tel Aviv and accept Jerusalem, with the Al-Aqsa mosque, as Israel’s capital?

Brace yourself. President Trump and others in the image above are facing an imminent criminal prosecution showdown, but tomorrow Donald is due to give 'Hanukkah remarks' again. Have some popcorn handy, this should be bonkers. Read the rest

Jared Kushner borrowed money to put down tiny down-payments on properties, paid himself millions from the rents generated by those properties, then used aggressive depreciation markdowns to declare an operating loss every year, meaning that he paid no tax at all from at least 2012 to 2016, and very little tax in the three years proceeding it. Read the rest

Not a good day for the President's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Read the rest

"What has changed... is that the House of Saud is now dealing directly with a member of the Trump family." Read the rest

"Hi Drew, I'd really like to talk to you, but there are many far more important people here for me to talk to right now." -- Jared Kushner, publisher of the New York Observer

In 1987, Arthur Carter began publishing The New York Observer, the salmon-colored broadsheet covering NY politics, show business, gossip and media. The Observer's first editor was SPY magazine co-founder E. Graydon Carter. Journalist Peter W. Kaplan became the Observer's new editor in 1994 and one of his first objectives was to line up four artists to create the newspaper's weekly covers each month. Peter first called me with an assignment to draw senator Al D'Amato and we instantly hit it off, realizing we shared a mutual love of old comedy films, Frank Sinatra and MAD magazine. Peter soon lined up the great caricaturists Philip Burke, Victor Juhasz and Robert Grossman as his other cover artists. He referred to the four of us as his "Murderer's Row", referencing the unbeatable 1927 New York Yankees starting lineup. Working directly with Peter, The four of us would create weekly covers for the NY Observer, (the NYO), for the next 15 years, with Barry Blitt drawing the small black-and-white cover caricatures.

In 2006, 25 year old real estate developer Jared Kushner bought the Observer and Peter Kaplan continued on as editor. When I first talked with Peter about the new publisher, he seemed excited about the future prospects of the NYO with this young, wealthy new publisher, equating him to Orson Welles as Charles Foster Kane, purchasing a money-losing newspaper and injecting new life into it. Read the rest