WASHINGTON — A new lawsuit accuses Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, of unlawfully exercising significant government power by acting as one of the administration’s “go-to foreign policy negotiators” without Senate confirmation or compliance with federal ethics rules.

The complaint was filed Wednesday by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a liberal-leaning government watchdog organization. The group argues that Kushner’s work on foreign policy, especially with Special Envoy for Peace Missions Steven Witkoff, violates the U.S. Constitution and that he should be required to file financial disclosures during his time in government service.

Kushner, who is married to Ivanka Trump, served as a senior White House adviser during Trump’s first administration but didn’t return to that formal role in his second term. Trump announced in February that he was naming Kushner as an “envoy” of peace, with a portfolio that has covered wars involving Israel, Iran, and Russia and Ukraine.

CREW alleges that the position poses “a heightened risk of financial conflicts of interest” given Kushner’s billion-dollar investment firm with clients that Bloomberg has reported include Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Kushner “has not been properly vetted for his government role, and he has evaded transparency obligations that aim to ensure that he exercises government authority for the good of the American people and not himself,” CREW wrote in its complaint.

White House spokesperson Anna Kelley said in a statement that Kushner’s “personal business activities have nothing to do with his diplomatic engagements, which he conducts on a volunteer basis at the President’s request and while paying his own expenses.” She also accused CREW of “attacking President Trump, his family, and his administration since the first term.”

Chad Mizelle, Kushner’s attorney and a former top Justice Department official under Trump, said in a statement that “this lawsuit ​is without merit, and ​we believe the ​plaintiffs ​lack ​standing ​to ​bring it.”

“Both outside ​ethics counsel ​and ​government ethics attorneys ​have reviewed ​Jared Kushner’s ​volunteer government service ​and ​confirmed ​that his ​arrangements ​comply with applicable ​ethics requirements,” Mizelle said. “​Jared receives ​no ​government salary ​or ​compensation, pays his own ​expenses, ​and will ​continue working ​with ​counsel to ensure ongoing compliance.”

During Trump’s first administration Kushner played a key role in negotiating the Abraham Accords, an agreement to normalize relationships with Israel and some other Middle Eastern nations. After Trump left office in 2021, he launched his investment company, Affinity Partners, which Bloomberg reported had $6.2 billion in assets by the end of 2025.

As a peace “envoy,” Kushner has largely worked in tandem with Witkoff, a real estate investor and long-time Trump ally appointed to lead the White House Office for Special Peace Missions. The lawsuit highlighted public reports showing Kushner had participated in other diplomatic efforts months before Trump announced him as an “envoy of peace” earlier this year.

Kushner and the White House previously have described his role as a “volunteer” for the administration. CREW claims that designation masks the “executive authority” that he exercises in practice when he takes part in negotiations with foreign leaders and other policy work.

The group contends his role violates the Constitution’s Appointments Clause, which requires top-level officials to go through the Senate approval process, and that he must comply with disclosure requirements under U.S. ethics laws.

The Appointments Clause came up earlier in Trump’s second term in court fights over the extent of government power billionaire Elon Musk exercised through the Department of Government Efficiency project, which played a central role in the mass firings of federal works and cuts to U.S. spending. Musk formally served as a “special government employee” for several months, but multiple lawsuits alleged he was functioning as a top-level administration official and should have been subjected to the Senate confirmation process.

No court made a final decision about the legality of Musk’s position before he left the administration in the spring of last year.

The case is Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, 26-cv-3580, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia.

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