In my book, American Oligarchs, I write extensively about Charlie Kushner. In the 1990's he was an ambitious real estate developer on the rise. Like Donald Trump, he found that political contributions enhanced his status, power, and money 1/

He began giving enormous amounts to Democrats. He gave over $3 million to New Jersey Democrats when Jim McGreevey was running for NJ Gov -- about the same as Enron gave to George W. Bush 2/

Bill Clinton came to his office in Livingston, as did Al Gore. But it turned out some of those attention-getting contributions were illegal, made in the name of others, including some of his family members.

3/

His brother sued Charles Kushner. A young and ambitious Republican prosecutor, Christopher J. Christie, began investigating, a standard white collar prosecution...of a big supporter of the NJ Gov. It probably would have been quietly adjudicated, except...

4/

Charlie concluded the whole thing was a hit job cooked up by his siblings & Christie. So Charlie hired an East Orange cop to procure a sex worker to entrap his brother-in-law. Charlie held on to the tape a while. Then, grand jury letters started to go out.

5/