Did Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman indicate that Jared Kushner, son-in-law of former President Donald Trump, will have to pay back the Saudi government $2 billion if Trump isn't reelected in 2024? No, there's no evidence that's true: The claim appears to be based on a tweet that cites a 2023 FOX News interview with Prince Mohammed. In the interview, Prince Mohammed does not say Kushner has to repay $2 billion.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X, formerly known as Twitter, on February 2, 2024. It read:
The Saudi crown prince suggested the $2billion could be returned if Trump loses the 2024 Election.
Users saw this on X at the time of the writing of this fact check:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Mon Feb 12 16:31:00 2024)
The claim was part of a series of tweets by a website called Politics Video Channel about Kushner, Prince Mohammed, and a $2 billion investment Kushner secured from a fund led by the Saudi crown prince.
In one of the tweets (archived here), Politics Video Channel cited an undated FOX News interview with the Saudi crown prince:
In a rare interview with Fox News's Bret Baier, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman suggested the money could be moved if Trump, who currently leads the 2024 GOP primary field, loses the 2024 Election.
Here's what the full string of tweets looked like at the time of the writing of this fact check:
The claims on X also migrated to Instagram, where one account (archived here) posted on February 6, 2024:
(Source: Instagram screenshot taken on Wed Feb 7 at 11:20:47 UTC 2024)
Although the FOX interview is real, it does not support the tweets' claim. In his discussion with FOX News host Bret Baier, posted on FOX News' YouTube channel (archived here) on September 22, 2023, Prince Mohammed makes no mention of Kushner having to repay $2 billion.
At around the 25:30-minute mark, FOX's Baier asked:
So, if Trump becomes president again, you'll leave the $2 billion with Jared Kushner?
Prince Mohammed responded:
It's a commitment that PIF have and when PIF have commitment with any investor around the globe, it keep it.
PIF is short for Public Investment Fund, the fund led by the Saudi crown prince.
You can watch the above exchange here.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks of claims related to Jared Kushner can be found here.
