'Absurd, bogus': US VP JD Vance rejects report Kushner, Witkoff profiting from Iran talks

US vice president JD Vance has rejected as “completely bogus” a media report alleging that Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff sought to profit from insider information during US-Iran negotiations, saying he never received an alleged warning from Tehran about the two senior members of President Donald Trump's team. Vance made the remarks on Thursday (local time) in response to a report that claimed Iran had accused Kushner and Witkoff of exploiting the negotiations for financial gain. “This is completely bogus. I never received a message like this,” Vance said in a post on X. “If I had, I would have said: Jared and Steve are trusted members of the president's team and very dear friends. No one has done more than the two of them to work towards peace and prosperity in the region. The idea they're trading on insider information is absurd,” he added. “I see a lot of BS flying around and I normally just ignore it. But Steve and Jared are good dudes and I'm honored to work with them,” Vance said. The report attached to Vance's post alleged that Iran had calculated USD 9 billion in profits from “market manipulation” by “individuals close to President Donald Trump”, primarily Kushner and Witkoff. It further claimed that Tehran had formally requested USD 4.5 billion of the alleged sum be allocated to Iran through intermediaries. According to the report, the claims originated from an update by a senior Iranian official to the news website Drop Site. It alleged that Iran had privately warned Vance during negotiations in Switzerland that Kushner and Witkoff were “abusing” the talks and were “more interested in exploiting insider knowledge to profit in financial markets than reaching a deal”. The report also claimed that Iran had warned that “the exchanged texts will ultimately become part of the historical record”. Vance, however, categorically denied receiving any such message and defended Kushner and Witkoff as trusted members of Trump's team who had worked towards “peace and prosperity in the region”. The denial came as the White House separately confirmed that Trump's long-time teleprompter operator is under federal investigation over alleged insider trading on a prediction market platform. The individual has been placed on unpaid administrative leave. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was aware of the investigation and had discussed the matter with her. “Obviously, I'm aware of the report. The President is too. I spoke with him about it. He believes it's deeply unfortunate and frankly a disgrace, and the individual who was cited in that report is complying with the CFTC but has been put on unpaid administrative leave. So there will be a teleprompter operator tonight, of course, but it will not be the one, unfortunately, in that story,” Leavitt said during a press briefing. She said the White House maintains “extremely strict ethical guidelines” on such matters and that the decision to place the employee on unpaid leave was made by Trump. “Well, the White House has extremely strict ethical guidelines with respect to issues like this, and as I just told you, this individual will no longer be here. He'll be on administrative leave without pay. The administrative leave is unpaid, to be very clear. That was a decision by the President, so I think that speaks for itself,” Leavitt added.