When a PR representative was asked why reporters were asked to leave, she said, « This is not the story we want. »
Representatives for the Kushner family reportedly asked journalists to leave the room during a presentation they were making to wealthy Chinese investors in Beijing, The Washington Post reported on Saturday.
Reporters were initially seated in the back of the ballroom at the Ritz-Carlton, but as the presentation began, The Post said that a PR representative for the family asked its reporter to leave, saying that the presence of « foreign reporters threatened the ‘stability’ of the event. »
In one instance, event organizers grabbed a reporter’s belongings, including a phone and backpack, to try to force that person out, the report said. When the event’s attendees began leaving the ballroom after the presentation was over, organizers reportedly surrounded the event-goers to prevent them from talking to reporters.
When a PR rep was asked why reporters were told to leave the event, she said, « This is not the story we want. »
The presentation itself was aimed at convincing Chinese investors to put their money into Kushner 1, a real estate project in New Jersey, in order to secure investor visas, the report said.
The visas are part of the EB-5 immigrant investor visa program, which allows foreign investors to put money into job-creating projects in the US, and then apply to immigrate into the country.
