Trump viciously booed during the National Anthem at Madison Square Garden

Asked to compare the two, Michel didn't mince words.

"You cannot compare the final numbers, the totality of what Hunter Biden or Jared Kushner have taken in," he said.

Hunter Biden was selling paintings for up to $100,000, a sum that would represent a great deal to most Americans. However, compared to Kushner, those figures are "miniscule," said Michel, adding that Kushner is a version of Hunter Biden who made exponentially more money.

Kushner is now a billionaire, with Egger noting he's a version of Hunter Biden "who made 10,000 times as much money."

At the center of the critique is Affinity Partners, the private equity firm Kushner launched in 2021 after leaving the White House. Reuters reported that the firm's assets jumped 60% to $4.8 billion by the end of 2024, up from $3 billion the prior year, after a cash injection from Gulf investors, including Qatar's sovereign wealth fund.

Kushner is now serving as a U.S. envoy in talks covering Gaza, Ukraine, and Iran, all while holding no Senate-confirmed role and carrying no conventional diplomatic credentials. That dual role has drawn scrutiny even from Republicans — and has echoes of the foreign-influence concerns Democrats have raised for years.

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis (N.C.) questioned the arrangement in February, telling ABC News that Kushner and fellow envoy Steve Witkoff are "not subject to Senate confirmation, and they're not subject to oversight." Putting the pair in charge of three simultaneous negotiations, he added, "doesn't make any sense to me."

According to a March 19 letter from House Oversight Democrats, Affinity has collected roughly $157 million in fees from foreign clients — including about $87 million directly from the Saudi government — while, the lawmakers said, generating little to no return for investors. The letter argued that the structure raised the possibility that Kushner was acting as an unregistered foreign agent.

Republicans, by contrast, spent years demanding investigations into Hunter Biden's board seat at Ukrainian energy firm Burisma and his overseas business ties. President Joe Biden pardoned his son in December 2024 before any foreign-influence case was brought.

“The President has no authority to levy a tax unless such a power is delegated by Congress through statute,” Sorokin, who was nominated by former President Barack Obama, wrote. “For these reasons, the Court finds that the Policy imposes a tax on H-1B petitions without the requisite delegation by Congress.”

The H-1B program allows a U.S. employer to hire a noncitizen worker in a specialty occupation for a maximum of six years, ranging from the technology industry to healthcare workers. At a minimum, visa applicants have to hold a bachelor’s degree.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in a statement to States Newsroom that the agency disagrees “with this blatant judicial activism dismantling President Trump’s historic efforts for immigration reform.”

“The recent changes to the H-1B visa program, including the increased fee, are intended to address concerns about program integrity and the impact on the U.S. workforce,” the spokesperson said. “The policy aims to ensure that employers prioritize hiring U.S. workers, particularly in high-skilled fields. The Trump Administration remains committed to safeguarding opportunities for American workers and maintaining the integrity of employment-based visa programs.”

The suit was brought by 20 states: California, Massachusetts, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington state and Wisconsin.

In September the Department of Homeland Security issued a proclamation requiring employers to pay a $100,000 fee for a noncitizen to enter the U.S. under a H-1B visa.

Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com.

While the race is nonpartisan, both candidates in the general election will be aligned with the Democratic Party, with Raman being the candidate representing the more progressive wing.

Pratt's campaign took off on social media as he swept up a number of right-wing celebrity endorsements and captured the rage Republicans felt at the management of Los Angeles.

He held second place in the initial returns on the first few nights, but his apparent lead evaporated as later-collected mail ballots, many of which came from younger voters who held off on deciding until the last minute, broke heavily for Raman.

Pratt's elimination from the mayoral race has sparked a wave of MAGA conspiracy theories, with baseless claims from Trump-allied influencers that the late-arriving ballots breaking more pro-Democratic than the earlier-arriving ballots indicates some sort of massive election fraud scheme.