I. BACKGROUND
The Trump Administration has renounced international accords aimed at controlling nuclear weapons and has vigorously promoted nuclear and fossil-based energy. In a 2018 report lauding its first year of science and technology accomplishment, the White House focused on the aim of US “Energy Dominance” and emphasized the objective of “Reviving and expanding the domestic nuclear energy sector.”¹ In addition to its support of nuclear and fossil domestically, the administration has championed export of nuclear power and liquefied national gas. Among its most controversial activity in this regard is its advocacy of nuclear power in the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia. The White House began talks with Saudi Arabia about developing the kingdom’s first nuclear power program in 2017.²

  Saudi Arabia has abundant sources of energy. The country could expand its capacity for solar and other renewable power at far less cost than building nuclear reactors. Thus policy experts believe the kingdom’s nuclear ambitions extend beyond interest in electric generation.

  As Victor Gilinsky, a former Nuclear Regulatory Commission commissioner and Henry Sokolski, executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, warned in early 2018, Saudi Arabia’s interest in nuclear power is a geopolitical concern. The Saudis “obviously have more in mind than nuclear energy. They compete with Iran for influence in the Middle East, and they are obsessed with this rivalry. They are convinced that they need to match Iran’s nuclear potential. That means being within arm’s reach of a Bomb. These circumstances shouldn’t surprise anyone, and in fact one of the main reasons to restrain Iran is precisely to avoid such a scenario. If Saudi Arabia opts for nuclear weapons, Turkey and Egypt may be close behind. Taking into account Israel’s nuclear arsenal, the Middle East could turn into a nuclear cauldron.”³

  The deal being sought by the Saudi’s would allow Saudi Arabia to buy US nuclear power reactors and be “‘flexible’” on Saudi uranium enrichment and on reprocessing of spent reactor fuel. Gilinsky and Sokolski reflect: “One must also consider the longer-term consequences of allowing ‘flexibility’ in a nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia. Nuclear plants proposed for the Middle East, or now being built, will last many decades. But will governments in the region last that long? The Saudi kingdom—despite recent, overhyped steps toward modernity such as allowing women to drive—is an anachronism. However firmly entrenched the kingdom appears in the person of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, it could disappear overnight, as almost happened in the fundamentalist attack on the Grand Mosque in 1979. Recall Washington’s experience with the Shah of Iran, whom the United States saw as its best friend in the Gulf. The United States was ready to sell the Shah two dozen reactors and even give him access to fuel technology. None of that happened, but MIT set up a special program to educate his nuclear engineers, some of whom are now central to Iran’s centrifuge enrichment activities. Who will inherit the nuclear technology that may be acquired by Saudi Arabia?”⁴

  Of course there is no need to await future developments for Saudi Arabia to be a questionable steward of nuclear. The kingdom is already a major purveyor of instability in the Middle East. During the first two years of the Trump Administration. The Saudi’s detained Lebanon’s prime minister, placed an embargo on Qatar, and have waged a vicious war in Yemen – creating the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. And lest we forget, 15 of the 19 terrorists who perpetrated the 9/11 attack were Saudi citizens. Saudi Arabia also seeded the fanatical madrassas and contributed the terrorist financing that enabled the terrorist attack.

 Regardless of the intent of the White House to deliver a sop to (and get “billions” from) Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, one would assume that former national intelligence officials and US nuclear energy leaders would have run away from a deal after Riyadh sent a hit squad to Turkey to gruesomely execute and dismember Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Unfortunately, either the lure of money or an astounding level of hubris – or both – has kept former officials and US nuclear industry engaged in this reckless quest.

  Part II of this briefing paper presents a synopsis of significant disclosures in a February 19, 2019 Congressional staff report which casts a spotlight on the possibility that the Trump Administration’s dealings involving promotion of commercial nuclear power may be linked to the special counsel investigation and even be connected to the ever widening corruption probes.

  Part III provides additional information on some of the actors noted in the report. It bears mention that US corporations, including the giant conglomerate Exelon Corporation, appear to be players in the gambit to export nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia and other volatile areas of the Middle East. (See Parts II and III below.)

II. U.S. CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND REFORM INTERIM STAFF REPORT
In February 2019, staff of the US House Committee on Oversight and Reform issued an interim report titled “Whistleblowers Raise Grave Concerns with Trump Administration’s Efforts to Transfer Sensitive Nuclear Technology to Saudi Arabia” (Interim Report)⁵. This report was prepared after multiple whistleblowers came forward to warn about efforts inside the White House to press forward with a US-Saudi nuclear energy deal in potential violation of the Atomic Energy Act and without review by Congress, as mandated by law. The whistleblowers provided specific information to support their concerns, including the dates of undisclosed meetings and identification of actors involved. Their concerns were corroborated by documentary evidence. Key excerpts and revelations are set forth below.

  “Within the United States,” the Interim Report states, “strong private commercial interests have been pressing aggressively for the transfer of highly sensitive nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia—a potential risk to U.S. national security absent adequate safeguards. These commercial entities stand to reap billions of dollars through contracts associated with constructing and operating nuclear facilities in Saudi Arabia—and apparently have been in close and repeated contact with President Trump and his Administration to the present day.”⁶ Transfer of sensitive U.S. nuclear technology could enable Saudi Arabia to produce nuclear weapons that contribute to the proliferation of nuclear arms throughout the unstable Middle East. The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 imposes stringent controls on the export of US technology that can be used to create nuclear weapons.

  The whistleblowers raise alarm about possible procedural and legal violations connected with the rushing through of a plan to transfer nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia and have warned of conflicts of interest among top White House advisers which could implicate federal criminal statutes.⁷ “Every whistleblower who spoke with the Committee on Oversight and Reform expressed significant concern about how their disclosures could lead to political reprisal, retribution, or professional setbacks. However, they stated that they felt compelled to convey their profound concern with the abnormal acts they witnessed inside the White House, including the disregard of advice from career officials, who repeatedly warned about the potential dangers of proceeding with such a sensitive proposal without full consideration and review.”⁸

  Many questions remain unanswered. However, based on the whistleblower accounts and the documents corroborating their claims, the House Committee is launching an investigation to ascertain whether efforts to promote nuclear power in the Middle East are being pursued by the Trump Administration to serve the interests of “those who stand to gain financially.”⁹ The Committee’s investigation is particularly critical because the Administration’s efforts to transfer sensitive U.S. nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia appear to be ongoing. President Trump has expressed his support for the transfer of nuclear technology to Riyadh and is reported to be directly engaged in the effort, maintaining contact with IP3 International, a private concern that has assembled a consortium of U.S. companies to build nuclear plants in Saudi Arabia.

  Thomas Barrack, Chairman of President Trump’s Inaugural Committee, was a key early proponent of the effort to sell nuclear power to Saudi Arabia. As revealed by media reports, Barrack expressed interest in purchase of some part of the bankrupt nuclear reactor manufacturer Westinghouse. Barrack also recommended Paul Manafort for the job of campaign manager, and sought to arrange a secret meeting between Manafort and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.¹⁰ Barrack’s investment firm Colony NorthStar apparently also developed a plan to profit off its White House connections, as evidenced in a confidential memorandum believed to have been written by Rick Gates. “The memo represented that Colony NorthStar already had ‘a pipeline of potential projects’ and that the firm’s employees had already made contact with ‘several of the key agencies that will direct those efforts.’ It concluded, ‘There are other groups forming but none that can currently match the relationships or resources that we possess.’”¹¹

  On January 1, 2017, “IP3 leaders General Keith Alexander, General Jack Keane, Mr. Bud McFarlane, and Rear Admiral Michael Hewitt, as well as the chief executives of six companies — Exelon Corporation, Toshiba America Energy Systems, Bechtel Corporation, Centrus Energy Corporation, GE Energy Infrastructure, and Siemens USA — signed a letter to Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The letter presented ‘the Iron Bridge Program as a 21st Century Marshall Plan for the Middle East’ and stated that it was ‘designed to create long term government to government and commercial to commercial partnerships between the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.’”¹²

  During the week of January 21, 2017, the first week of the Trump Administration, then Senior Director for Middle East and North African Affairs at the National Security Council (NSC) Derek Harvey was reported by the whistleblowers to have stated that a decision to adopt IP3’s nuclear plan to develop “‘dozens of nuclear plants’” in the Middle East had already been made by national security advisor General Michael Flynn during the transition. During that time, General Flynn had been also serving as an advisor to the IP3 subsidiary IronBridge Group Inc.¹³

  On January 27, 2017, 7 days after the inauguration and 2 days before a scheduled call with the king of Saudi Arabia, Harvey held a meeting in his White House office with a group of retired generals who work for IP3. “Immediately after the meeting, Mr. Harvey directed the NSC staff to add information about IP3’s ‘plan for 40 nuclear power plants’ to the briefing package for President Trump’s call with King Salman. Mr. Harvey also stated that General Flynn wanted President Trump to raise the ‘plan for 40 nuclear power plants’ with King Salman and that this was the ‘energy plan’ that had been developed and approved by General Flynn during the presidential transition.”¹⁴ In response, several NSC staff apprised Harvey that any transfer of nuclear technology must comply with the Atomic Energy Act, and, specifically that the US and Saudi Arabia would need to reach a 123 Agreement.¹⁵ These NSC staffers further warned that legal requirements to consult with subject matter experts at the NSC, State Department, Department of Defense, and Department of Energy (DOE) could not be circumvented. However Harvey reportedly ignored these warnings and insisted that the decision to transfer nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia had already been made.¹⁶

  Staff from the Middle East Directorate, the Nonproliferation Directorate, and the International Economic Affairs Directorate conferred and expressed concern that it would be inappropriate for President Trump to raise the unvetted, potentially illegal, plan for 40 nuclear power plants in Saudi Arabia during a scheduled telephone call with King Salaman.

  On January 28, 2017, McFarlane, a co-founder and Director of IP3, sent an email to General Flynn and Deputy National Security Advisor K.T. McFarland that included “a draft memorandum ‘for the President to sign’ directing agency heads to lend support to Thomas Barrack for the implementation of the IP3 plan. Mr McFarlane also wrote that the IP3 team and Thomas Barrack, the President’s personal friend and Chairman of the Inaugural Committee, concurred” with the memo.¹⁷

  Despite worries raised internally, and even after the departure of General Flynn in February 2017, officials inside the White House continued to press forward on the IP3 nuclear plan. NSC staff accordingly met with the new National Security Advisor General H.R. McMaster to voice their concerns about Harvey, including his ongoing contacts with General Flynn (following his termination) and efforts to circumvent the interagency procedures.

  “In mid-March 2017, Deputy National Security Advisor K.T. McFarland reportedly stated during a meeting that President Trump told Mr. Barrack that he could lead the implementation of the plan. She also disclosed that Mr. Barrack would be speaking with Mr. Harvey that day. Mr. Harvey subsequently held a conference call with Mr. Barrack, along with Rick Gates, President Trump’s former Deputy Campaign Manager and Deputy Chairman of the Inaugural Committee, whom Mr. Barrack had hired to manage the Washington, D.C. office of Mr. Barrack’s company. A career NSC staffer who joined the call with Mr. Gates, Mr. Barrack, and Mr. Harvey later informed colleagues that Mr. Harvey was trying to promote the IP3 plan ‘so that Jared Kushner can present it to the President for approval.’”¹⁸ On March 23, 2017, after an interagency meeting relating to Saudi Arabia convened by NRC, Harvey expressed interest in continuing discussions about what was being termed the “Middle East Marshall Plan” with DOE Secretary Rick Perry. On March 27, 2017, General McMaster informed relevant NSC staff that he and NSC Legal Advisor John Eisenberg agreed that NSC staff should cease all work on the plan.

  On April 3, 2017, Andrea Thompson, the Vice President’s National Security Advisor—asked a staffer on Vice President Pence’s national security team to meet with IP3 to discuss the Middle East Marshall Plan.¹⁹

 In December 2017, DOE Secretary Rick Perry led a delegation to Saudi Arabia to conduct talks on civilian nuclear cooperation with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih.²⁰

 “In January 2018, Brookfield Business Partners, a subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management, announced its plans to acquire Westinghouse Electric for $4.6 billion. Westinghouse Electric is the bankrupt nuclear services company that is part of IP3’s proposed consortium to build nuclear reactors in Saudi Arabia, and which stands to benefit from the Middle East Marshall Plan. In August 2018, Brookfield Asset Management purchased a partnership stake in 666 Fifth Avenue, a building owned by Jared Kushner’s family company.”²¹

  On February 27, 2018, Goldman Sachs announced that former Deputy National Security Advisor Dina Powell, who had helped manage Jared Kushner’s relationship with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and plan President Trump’s 2017 visit to Saudi Arabia, was joining Goldman Sachs’ sovereign wealth group. In February 2018, it was also reported that “‘The administration is considering permitting Saudi Arabia to enrich and reprocess uranium as part of a deal that would allow Westinghouse Electric Co. and other American companies to build nuclear reactors in the Middle East kingdom.’”²²

  In March 2018, it was reported that the Saudi government was spending more than $450,000 over a one-month period to lobby the Trump administration to approve a sale of nuclear reactors to Saudi Arabia.²³ “Also in March 2018, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman undertook a ‘last-minute visit to New York,’ where he housed his entourage at the Trump International Hotel in Manhattan for five days, a stay that reportedly ‘was enough to boost the hotel’s revenue’ by 13 percent ‘for the entire quarter.’”²⁴

  In September 2018, the U.S. consortium to build nuclear reactors was reported to be on Saudi Arabia’s “‘shortlist of potential partners competing to build nuclear-power plants in the kingdom’” and DOE Secretary Perry informed reporters that the kingdom had made a decision that keeps Westinghouse in the mix for what could become a “‘market worth tens of billions of dollars.’”²⁵

  On December 20, 2018, it was reported that, some weeks earlier, DOE Secretary Perry had led an interagency delegation to Riyadh to discuss a potential deal to share American nuclear power technology with Saudi Arabia.²⁶

 On February 7, 2019, the White House announced that Jared Kushner would be traveling to Saudi Arabia and other Middle East nations in late February to “‘share elements of the economic plan’” of a US Middle East peace proposal.²⁷

  “On February 12, 2019, it was reported that President Trump participated in a White House meeting with private nuclear power developers, ‘initiated by IP3 International.’ The meeting was reported to include discussions about U.S. efforts ‘to secure agreements to share U.S. nuclear technology with Middle East nations, including Jordan and Saudi Arabia.’ Participants reportedly included Rear Admiral Hewitt and General Keane from IP3, as well as representatives from Westinghouse, General Electric, Exelon, Nuscale, TerraPower, Lightbridge, AECOM, BWXT, Centrus Energy Corp., and X-energy. President Trump was reportedly ‘supportive’ of the executives’ plans to sell nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia.”²⁸

  Reports further indicate that Saudi Arabia is refusing to agree to prohibitions on enriching uranium and processing plutonium.²⁹

III. NOTES ON SOME OF THE PLAYERS NOTED IN THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND REFORM’S INTERIM STAFF REPORT
In February 2019, staff of the US House Committee on Oversight and Reform issued an interim report titled “Whistleblowers Raise Grave Concerns with Trump Administration’s Efforts to Transfer Sensitive Nuclear Technology to Saudi Arabia” (Interim Report). This report was prepared after multiple whistleblowers came forward to warn about efforts inside the White House to press forward with a US-Saudi nuclear energy deal in potential violation of the Atomic Energy Act and without review by Congress, as mandated by law. The whistleblowers provided specific information to support their concerns, including the dates of undisclosed meetings and identification of actors involved. Their concerns were corroborated by documentary evidence. Key excerpts and revelations are set forth below.

EXELON
Exelon Corporation is the head of a $33 billion energy conglomerate that has, through a series of acquisitions, become the largest private electric company in the US. Reports indicate Exelon has targeted Saudi Arabia for nuclear energy projects since at least 2010.³⁰ On February 12, 2019, US nuclear energy developers met with President Trump at the White House to ask for help “such as with financing assistance” to win contracts to build power plants in the Middle East and elsewhere overseas.³¹ The White House meeting, Bloomberg reports, was attended by Exelon CEO Chris Crane as well as representatives from Westinghouse Electric Co. LLC, General Electric Co, NuScale Power LLC, and other companies. Sources told Bloomberg the meeting was initiated by Gen. Jack Keane (Ret), the co-founder of IP3 International, which has advocated American nuclear power development in the Middle East. “Some nuclear executives also expressed concerns about a raft of policies designed to boost their competitors generating renewable power.”³²
  In the US, Exelon has subverted renewable development while also actively seeking subsidies for operation of its aging fleet of reactors.³³ In 2016, the New York Public Service Commission issued an order with a “Tier 3” segment that gives Exelon virtually all of a staggering $7.6 billion in ratepayer subsidies and locks the state to nuclear generation for over a decade.³⁴ Exelon then went on to obtain billions more in subsidies from Illinois and New Jersey.³⁵
  Despite clamoring for massive subsidies for nuclear in the name of avoiding reliance on fossil, Exelon has made sizable investment in natural gas. In fact one month to the day after NY’s Tier 3 was promulgated, Exelon’s Constellation subsidiary announced acquisition of ConEdison Solutions’ electricity and natural gas business. In a press release, the corporation trumpeted that the purchase gives Exelon/Constellation “retail electricity and natural gas customer contracts and associated supply contracts serving approximately 15 TWh of electricity and 1 Bcf of natural gas to more than 560,000 commercial, industrial, public sector and residential customers in 12 Northeastern, mid-Atlantic, and Midwestern states, Texas, and the District of Columbia.”³⁶

FLYNN
Former Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, was forced to resign as President Trump’s national security advisor in February 2017 over, among other things, lying about his contacts with foreign officials. These activities included Flynn’s discussion on the lifting of sanctions with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the presidential transition and Flynn’s failure to disclose a June 2015 trip to the Middle East he took on behalf of the lead company seeking nuclear power projects in the Middle East.
  After being criminally charged, Flynn pled guilty to making a series of false statements to the FBI and quickly turned cooperating witness. In December 2018, Special Counsel Robert Muller recommended Flynn be sentenced to little or no prison time due to his “substantial assistance” to the investigative team.³⁷ Conceivably, Flynn’s cooperation will shed more light on nuclear lobbying activity of his prior associates. Regardless, the Interim Report puts Flynn’s already revealed role in US commercial nuclear lobbying activity – apparently both on the giving and receiving end – into sharper focus.
  After being forced out as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014, Flynn quickly took up a variety of consulting assignments, including an advisory position for ACU Strategic Partners, a company headed by the British-American dealmaker Alex Copson. By 2015, Copson was reportedly telling people that he had a group of U.S., Russian, European, and Arab companies that would participate in a business venture to build as many as 40 nuclear reactors in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt. In June 2015, acting on behalf of ACU, Flynn flew to Egypt to seek support for the ACU plan.³⁸ IP3 representatives have reportedly acknowledged also having had a relationship with Flynn, but the exact nature of Flynn’s relationship with IP3 remains unclear.³⁹
  Ironically, in 2014, while serving as Army Director of the US Defense Intelligence Agency, Flynn asserted that the US faces a “complex security environment marked by a broad spectrum of dissimilar threats emerging from countries and highly adaptive transnational terrorist network” and warned of “the threat of weapons of mass destruction falling into the hands of non‐state actors and the proliferation of these weapons to state actors”.⁴⁰ He emphasized the fact that “Cyber reconnaissance, exploitation, and the potential for attacks against DoD {Department of Defense} forces around the globe is a reality. These activities indicate an interest in how DoD operates in cyberspace and may allow our adversaries to identify opportunities to try to disrupt or degrade military operations. Additionally, state actors are using cyber espionage in attempts to steal critical information from DoD and defense contractors.”⁴¹ Flynn further warned, “The proliferation and potential for use of WMD and ballistic missiles is a grave and enduring threat. Securing nuclear weapons and materials is a worldwide imperative to prevent accidents and the potential diversion of fissile or radiological materials. … Al‐Qa’ida and some of its affiliate organizations aspire to acquire and employ chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) materials.”⁴²

GATES
Rick Gates worked on the Trump campaign and was deputy chairman of the Inaugural Committee. He was then hired by Trump inaugural chairman Tom Barrack to work as a consultant to Barrack’s investment company Colony NorthStar. Gates is the believed author of the confidential strategy plan referenced in the Interim Report which outlined how Colony might best optimize its White House connections.⁴³
  In February 2019 WNYC reported: “In early 2017, Gates and Barrack identified an investment idea based on the Trump administration’s emerging Middle East policy. Barrack threw his weight behind a proposal to spread nuclear power technology to Saudi Arabia, and considered buying a stake in U.S. reactor manufacturer Westinghouse”.⁴⁴
  Gates was also the ex-business partner of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. In August 2018, Gates testified that he engaged in an extensive criminal conspiracy with Manafort that lasted 7 years and included lying to the Internal Revenue Service to avoid payment of taxes and providing false documents to banks to obtain millions of dollars in loans.⁴⁵
  Rick Gates is reportedly cooperating in the investigation of Special Counsel Robert Muller. In 2018, special counsel Robert Mueller's team questioned several witnesses about millions of dollars in donations from donors with connections to Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, according to reports of sources to ABC News. On February 4, 2019, Manhattan federal prosecutors subpoenaed documents from Colony in connection with the US attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York’s investigation into activities of the Inaugural Committee.⁴⁶

IP3
IP3 International is a private concern that has assembled a consortium of American companies to build nuclear plants in Saudi Arabia.   ACU Strategic Partners, the nuclear power promoting outfit led by Alex Copson in which Gen Michael Flynn (Ret) had been involved eventually splintered. Michael Hewitt, a retired admiral who had been part of ACU struck out on his own in mid-2016 to form a new company called IP3. Flynn went with Hewitt and IP3 signed up other prominent former national security players including Gens. Keith Alexander, Jack Keane and James Cartwright, former Middle East envoy Dennis Ross, former Bush Homeland Security adviser Fran Townsend, and former National Security adviser Robert McFarlane. IP3 then began to promote what became its central project: the sale of US nuclear power to Saudi Arabia.⁴⁷

WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC COMPANY
Westinghouse Electric Company, a subsidiary of Toshiba Corp, and the largest historic builder of nuclear power plants in the world, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March 2017, after being hit by billions of dollars in cost overruns in connection with the first new US nuclear power plants in three decades. The new reactors, part of Westinghouse’s new AP1000 design reactors at V.C. Summer in South Carolina and Vogtle in Georgia, also suffered from extensive construction delays.⁴⁸ The V.C. Summer project, in particular, was plagued by engineering and workforce morale problems, an audit by the global engineering, construction and project management company Bechtel found.⁴⁹
  In January 2018, the private equity group of Brookfield Asset Management announced it would buy what remained of the former nuclear energy powerhouse’s US business as well as its non-bankrupt European business for $4.6 billion. Brookfield finalized its acquisition of Westinghouse Electric Co LLC on August 2, 2018.
  At around the same time, Brookfield Asset Management agreed to lease the Kushner Companies troubled 666 Fifth Avenue office tower for 99 years, with an option to buy, for a reported $1.286 billion.⁵⁰ Notably, the deal involved payment of the over $1 billion rent for the full lease term up front. Effectively, this payment rescued the Kushner Companies. Back in 2007, Jared Kushner (acting on behalf of his family real estate business) made a deal to purchase the Midtown Manhattan tower 666 Fifth Avenue for the record-setting sum of $1.75 billion. The overpriced acquisition thereafter became a financial drag on the company. Analysts deemed the building (which was 30% vacant and only generated about half its annual mortgage payments) to be worth less than its debts. The family spent over two years on a search for new partners or financing that stretched from the Middle East to China. Brookfield Asset Management’s lease, with its large upfront payment, helped remove the Kushner Companies’ “biggest financial headache,” a $1.4 billion mortgage on the office portion of the tower which was to come due in February 2019.⁵¹
  Brookfield’s Westinghouse Electric subsidiary has of course been one of the companies seeking to supply nuclear power services in Saudi Arabia.
  On February 26, 2019, Jared Kushner, now acting as a White House advisor, met in Riyadh with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to discuss “‘increasing cooperation’” between the US and Saudi Arabia and Middle East peace efforts, the White House said in a statement. “‘Additionally, they discussed ways to improve the condition of the entire region through economic investment,’” the statement said.⁵²

¹ Science & Technology Highlights in the First Year of the Trump Administration, White House, Mar 2018. https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Science-and-Technology-Highlights-Report-from-the-1st-Year-of-the-Trump-Administration.pdf (emphasis in original).
² El Gamal, Rania, U.S. energy chief says to start negotiations on nuclear pact with Riyadh, Reuters, Dec 6, 2017. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-usa-nuclearpower/u-s-energy-chief-says-to-start-negotiations-on-nuclear-pact-with-riyadh-idUSKBN1E02KC?il=0.
³ Gilinsky, Victor and Henry Sokolski, No to a permissive US-Saudi nuclear deal, Bulletin of Atomic Scientists Op-Ed, Feb 22, 2018. https://thebulletin.org/no-permissive-us-saudi-nuclear-deal11534.
⁴ Id. See also Reif, Kingston, Daryl G. Kimball and Kelsey Davenport, The Risks of Nuclear Cooperation with Saudi Arabia and the Role of Congress, Arms Control (2018); 10 (4). https://www.armscontrol.org/issue-briefs/2018-04/risks-nuclear-cooperation-saudi-arabia-role-congress.
⁵ Whistleblowers Raise Grave Concerns with Trump Administration’s Efforts to Transfer Sensitive Nuclear Technology to Saudi Arabia, Interim Staff Report, Committee on Oversight and Reform, U.S. House of Representatives, prepared for Committee Chairman Elijah E. Cummings, Feb 2019. (Interim Report) https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/Trump%20Saudi%20Nuclear%20Report%20-%202-19-2019.pdf.
⁶ Interim Report, p 1.
⁷ Id, p 2.
⁸ Id, p 3.
⁹ Id, p 5.
¹⁰ Id, pp 3-4 & 11, citing, inter alia, The New York Times and ProPublica.
¹¹ Id, p 11, referencing Strategic Plan for Colony NorthStar, Inc., Colony NorthStar, Feb 2017.
¹² Id, p 6, citing a letter from IP3 to the Saudi Crown Prince dated Jan 1, 2017, which was emailed from Frances Fragos Townsend to National Security Council staff as part of a package on March 28, 2017.
¹³ Id, pp 4 & 7.
¹⁴ Id, p 7.
¹⁵ So-called “123 agreements are named after a section of the 1954 Atomic Energy Act (AEA) which sets the terms for sharing US nuclear power technology, equipment, and materials with foreign nations. Congress amended the AEA to require nuclear cooperation agreements include tougher safeguards to prevent US commercial nuclear assistance from being diverted to weapons programs after India’s nuclear test explosion in 1974.
¹⁶ Interim Report, pp 4, 7 & 8.
¹⁷ Id, pp 8-9.
¹⁸ Id, p 5.
¹⁹ Id, p 19.
²⁰ Id, p 19.
²¹ Id, p 19.
²² Id, p 20, citing Bloomberg.
²³ Id, p 20.
²⁴ Id, p 21, citing the Washington Post.,
²⁵ Id, p 21, citing The Wall Street Journal.
²⁶ Id, p 22, citing Al Arabiya.
²⁷ Id, p 22, citing Reuters.
²⁸ Id, p 23, citing Bloomberg, Reuters, and Axios.
²⁹ A key issue relates to the Saudi’s reluctance to enter into a 123 agreement.
³⁰ Westinghouse, Toshiba and Exelon Nuclear Partners to Collaborate on Nuclear Project in Saudi Arabia, Westinghouse Press Release, Sep 9, 2013. http://www.westinghousenuclear.com/about/news/view/westinghouse-toshiba-and-exelon-nuclear-partners-to-collaborate-on-nuclear-project-in-saudi-arabia. See also, Shaw, Toshiba and Exelon target nuclear projects in Saudi Arabia, Pump Industry Analyst (2010); 7. S1359-6128 (10), https://doi.org/10.1016/S1359-6128(10)70264-0 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359612810702640, reporting: “The Shaw Group Inc, Toshiba Corp and Exelon Nuclear Partners are teaming up to provide a full complement of services to design, engineer, construct and operate new nuclear electric generating plants in Saudi Arabia.”
³¹ Dlouhy, Jennifer A, Ari Natter and Jennifer Jacobs, CEOs Ask Trump to Help Them Sell Nuclear Power Plants Abroad, Bloomberg, Feb 12, 2019. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-12/trump-said-to-meet-with-nuclear-developers-looking-globally.
³² Id.
³³ Elsner, Gabe, The Exelon-Pepco Merger & Exelon’s History of Anti-Clean Energy Lobbying, Huffington Post, Jun 29, 2015. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/gabe-elsner/the-exelonpepco-merger-ex_b_7176948.html. Energy and Policy Institute, Briefing on American Legislative Exchange Council’s Energy Agenda – July 2014, Energy and Policy Institute report, 2014. https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/energyandpolicy/pages/163/attachments/original/1406739337/ALEC-Energy-Environment-Agriculture-Agenda-July2014.pdf?1406739337. Kim, Exelon teams up with Big Coal in subsidy-filled Springfield bill, Chicago Tribune, Nov 22, 2016. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-exelon-rate-hike-met-20161121-story.html. Lydersen, Kari, Why the nuclear industry targets renewable instead of gas, Midwestern Energy News, Feb 6, 2015. http://midwestenergynews.com/2015/02/06/why-the-nuclear-industry-targets-renewables-instead-of-gas/. Natter, Ari, Nuclear Industry Lobbies to Preserve Tax Credit; Opposes Similar Wind Incentive, Bloomberg BNA blog, Oct 30, 2014. https://www.bna.com/nuclear-industry-lobbies-b17179910781/. Negin, Elliott, Nuclear Giant Exelon Blasts Wind, Huffington Post, Nov 5, 2014. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elliott-negin/nuclear-giant-exelon-blas_b_5446623.html. Negin, Elliott, Nuclear Giant Exelon Launches Front Group to Cover Its Assets, Huffington Post, Jun 2, 2014. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elliott-negin/nuclear-giant-exelon-laun_b_5428994.html. Polson, Jim and Mark Chediak, Exelon’s Pepco Takeover Fuels Fear That Nuclear Will Trump Solar, Bloomberg, May 15, 2015. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-15/exelon-s-pepco-takeover-fuels-fear-that-nuclear-will-trump-solar.
Broader review of the nuclear industry’s effort to stymie renewable may be found in these reports: Cooper M, Power Shift: The Deployment of a 21st Century Electricity Sector and the Nuclear War to Stop It, Institute for Energy and The Environment, Vermont Law School report, Jun 2015. http://www-Assets.vermontlaw.edu/Assets/iee/Power_Shift_Mark_Cooper_June_2015.PDF. Judson, Tim, Killing the Competition: The Nuclear Power Agenda to Block Climate Action, Stop Renewable Energy, and Subsidize Old Reactors, Nuclear Information and Resource Service Report, Sep 2014. https://www.nirs.org/wp-content/uploads/neconomics/killingthecompetition914.pdf.
³⁴ A lawsuit challenging New York’s Tier 3 is currently proceeding in New York Supreme Court in the form of an “Article 78” proceeding. Petitioners are: Hudson River Sloop Clearwater (Clearwater); Goshen Green Farms; Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS); Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition (IPSEC); and Promoting Health and Sustainable Energy (PHASE). Many others who had sought to be co-petitioners in the case were denied on technical grounds, these included Green Education Legal Fund; Safe Energy Rights Group; Beyond Nuclear; the Town of North Salem; and more than 50 individuals who purchase 100% renewable energy. More information and links to the papers submitted to the court in the Article 78 case may be found on the website of lead petitioner Hudson River Sloop Clearwater. https://www.clearwater.org/latest-news/in-historic-court-challenge-plaintiffs-filing-lays-out-the-reasons-why-ratepayer-subsidies-for-new-yorks-failing-nuclear-power-plants-should-be-struck-down/. (Donations to support the legal fight may be made through Clearwater, NIRS or directly to www.gofundme.com/legal-fund-to-challenge-ny-state-nuclear-subsidy.)
³⁵ Judson, Tim, Unraveling the New York Nuclear Subsidy Scam, Gotham Gazette Op-Ed, Aug 21, 2018. http://www.gothamgazette.com/opinion/7876-unraveling-the-new-york-nuclear-subsidy-scam. Moran, Tom, PSEG twists arms to get its shameless nuke subsidy, Star-Ledger Op-Ed, Mar 7, 2018. http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2018/03/pseg_twists_arms_to_get_its_shameless_nuke_subsidy.html. See also, Cahill, Joe, The secret to Exelon’s rising profit, Crain’s Chicago Business, Aug 15, 2018. https://www.chicagobusiness.com/joe-cahill-business/secret-exelons-rising-profit. Daniels, Steve, Crain’s Chicago Business, Does lobbying pay? Ex-Exelon exec highlights former employer as poster child, Crain’s Chicago Business, Mar 28, 2018. http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20180328/NEWS11/180329876/does-lobbying-pay-ex-exelon-exec-highlights-former-employer-as-poster-child.
³⁶ Constellation Completes Acquisition Of Retail Electricity And Natural Gas Business From ConEdison Solutions press release, Sep 1, 2016. https://www.constellation.com/about-us/news/archive/2016/Constellation-Acquires-Retail-Electricity-Natural-Gas-Business-From-ConEdison.html.
³⁷ Mueller, Robert S, III, Special Counsel Memorandum in Aid of Sentencing Michael T. Flynn, United States of America v. Michael T. Flynn, US District Court for the District of Columbia, Crim. No. 17-232 (EGS),Dec 4, 2018. https://static.politico.com/21/fe/be62126a4df3ab3dfbaed1908380/mueller-sentencing-memo-on-michael-flynn.pdf.
³⁸ Arnsdorf, Isaac, White House May Share Nuclear Power Technology With Saudi Arabia, Pro Publica, Nov 29, 2017. https://www.propublica.org/article/white-house-may-share-nuclear-power-technology-with-saudi-arabia. Jaffe, Greg, Michael Kranish, Carol D Leonnig, and Tom Hamburger, Inside the White House, Michael Flynn pushed proposal from company he said he had advised, Washington Post, Nov 29, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-the-white-house-michael-flynn-pushed-proposal-from-company-he-had-advised/2017/11/28/445da6f0-d454-11e7-b62d-d9345ced896d_story.html. Kranish, Michael, Tom Hamburger and Carol D. Leonnig, Michael Flynn’s role in Mideast nuclear project could compound legal issues, Washington Post, Nov 28, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/michael-flynns-role-in-middle-eastern-nuclear-project-could-compound-legal-issues/2017/11/26/51ce7ec8-ce18-11e7-81bc-c55a220c8cbe_story.html. Megerian, Chris, Mike Flynn was working on private nuclear power plan while advising Trump, whistleblower says, Los Angeles Times, Dec 7, 2017. http://www.latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-pol-essential-washington-updates-mike-flynn-was-helping-with-nuclear-1512585375-htmlstory.html. Stein, Jeff, Michael Flynn, Russia and a Grand Scheme to Build Nuclear Power Plants in Saudi Arabia and the Arab World, Newsweek, Jun 8, 2017. https://www.newsweek.com/2017/06/23/flynn-russia-nuclear-energy-middle-east-iran-saudi-arabia-qatar-israel-donald-623396.html. A whistleblower acquaintance of Copson’s informed House representatives that on Inauguration Day, Flynn had texted Copson and declared that a Russia-US energy project in the Middle East was “‘good to go.’” At an inauguration party after the speech, Copson flashed his phone at the whistleblower (who took note of the text time stamp as 12:11 pm) to show him the text message from Flynn. Copson then reportedly made the statements: “‘Mike has been putting everything in place for us’” “‘I am going to celebrate today’” and “‘This is going to make a lot of very wealthy people.’” The whistleblower also alleged that Copson told him Flynn had said the U.S. sanctions on Russia would be "ripped up" as soon as Trump was inside the White House. Stein, Jeff, Flynn was Conducting Private Russia-Related Business on His Phone During Trump’s Inauguration Speech, Whistleblower Tells Congress, Newsweek, Dec 9, 2017. http://www.newsweek.com/flynn-russia-middle-east-nuclear-trump-mueller-congress-cummings-gowdy-740136. (Flynn Letter at: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/06/us/politics/document-Gowdy-Flynn-Letter.html.)
³⁹ Colman, Zack, House report lays bare White House feud over Saudi nuclear push, Politico, Feb 19, 2019. https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/19/michael-flynn-saudi-arabia-1174531
⁴⁰ Flynn, Michael T, Lieutenant General, U.S. Army Director, Defense Intelligence Agency, Annual Threat Assessment Statement Before the Senate Armed Services Committee, U.S. Senate, Feb 11, 2014, at p 2. http://www.dia.mil/Portals/27/Documents/News/2014_DIA_SFR_SASC_ATA_FINAL.pdf.
⁴¹ Id, p 6.
⁴² Id, p 12.
⁴³ “Private and Confidential” Strategic Plan for Colony NorthStar, Inc., Feb 2017. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5726057-Colony-memo-February-2017.html. (Colony NorthStar, Inc. has since been renamed Colony. The firm does not appear to have any connection to the nuclear decommissioning firm NorthStar Group Services.)
⁴⁴ Marritz, Ilya and Justin Elliott, Confidential Memo: Company of Trump Inaugural Chair sought to Profit from Connection to Administration, Foreigners, WNYC Feb 5, 2019. https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/confidential-memo-company-trump-inaugural-chair-sought-profit-connection-administration-foreigners.
⁴⁵ Kelly, Erin and Kevin Johnson, six bombshells from Rick Gates’ testimony in the Paul Manafort trial, USA Today, Aug 7, 2018. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/08/07/rick-gates-five-bombshells-his-paul-manafort-trial-testimony/921899002/.
⁴⁶ Santucci, John, Josh Margolin, and Matthew Mosk, New York prosecutors seek records from Trump inauguration committee: Sources, ABC News, Feb 4, 2019. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/york-prosecutors-seek-records-trump-inauguration-committee-sources/story?id=60841246. See also, Winter, Tom, Monica Alba and Alex Johnson, Federal prosecutors subpoena trump inaugural records, NBC News, Feb 4, 2019. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/federal-prosecutors-subpoena-trump-inaugural-records-n966901.)
⁴⁷ Arnsdorf, Isaac, White House May Share Nuclear Power Technology With Saudi Arabia, Pro Publica, Nov 29, 2017. https://www.propublica.org/article/white-house-may-share-nuclear-power-technology-with-saudi-arabia. IP3 International’s web page states: “The mission of IP3 is to be the lead U.S. integrator for the development and operations of peaceful and secure nuclear power in the global marketplace.” IP3 web page, accessed Mar 5, 2019. http://ip3international.com/about/.
⁴⁸ Hals, Tom, Makiko Yamazaki and Tim Kelly, Huge nuclear cost overruns push Toshiba’s Westinghouse into bankruptcy, Reuters, Mar 29, 2017. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-toshiba-accounting-board-idUSKBN17006K. Mufson, Steven, Westinghouse files for bankruptcy, in a blow to nuclear power industry, Washington Post, Mar 29, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/westinghouse-files-for-bankruptcy-in-a-blow-to-nuclear-power-industry/2017/03/29/. Westinghouse: Origins and Effects of the Downfall of a Nuclear Giant, World Nuclear Report, Apr 2, 2017. https://www.worldnuclearreport.org/Westinghouse-Origins-and-Effects-of-the-Downfall-of-a-Nuclear-Giant.html.
⁴⁹ Bechtel, V.C. Summer Nuclear Generating Station Units 2 & 3 Project Assessment Report, Bechtel Power Corporation report, Feb. 5, 2016. https://assets.sourcemedia.com/8c/d8/6686933e49518782cdc7cc1b577f/bechtel-report-on-v.C.%20Summer%20nuclear%20project%20020516.pdf. See also, Green, Jim, Criminal investigations begin into abandoned South Carolina reactor project, Nuclear Monitor (2017); 852 (4682), Nov 10, 2017. https://www.wiseinternational.org/nuclear-monitor/852/criminal-investigations-begin-abandoned-south-carolina-reactor-project.
⁵⁰ Putzier, Konrad, Brookfield secures option to buy land under 666 Fifth, The Real Deal, Aug 13, 2018. https://therealdeal.com/2018/08/13/brookfield-secures-option-to-buy-land-under-666-fifth/.
⁵¹ Bagli, Charles V and Kate Kelly, Deal Gives Kushners Cash Infusion on 666 Fifth Avenue, New York Times, Aug 3, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/03/nyregion/kushners-building-fifth-avenue-brookfield-lease.html.
⁵² Holland, Steve, Kushner, Saudi crown prince discuss ‘increasing cooperation’ in Riyadh: White House, Reuters, Feb 27, 2019. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-saudi/kushner-saudi-crown-prince-discuss-increasing-cooperation-in-riyadh-white-house-idUSKCN1QG272.

Michel Lee, Esq.
Chairman, Council on Intelligent Energy & Conservation Policy (CIECP)