The personal contacts between Jared Kouchner, adviser to US President Donald Trump, and Saudi Crown Prince Prince Mohammed bin Salman have been going on for more than two years, the New York Times quoted three former US officials as saying.
Kouchner and the Saudi Crown Prince have been exchanging text messages and phone calls with the first names, although the White House chief of staff has imposed long-term procedures that require members of the National Security Council to engage in all contacts with foreign leaders.
The newspaper said it had seen documents containing e-mails and text between the two men confirm the continuation of the relationship and communication between them even after the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi on October 2 last.
The New York Times quoted sources familiar with the deliberations of the White House that Kouchner became the most prominent defender of the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, even after the CIA concluded that he ordered the killing of Khashoggi.
The newspaper quoted the former officials as concerned that Kouchner had been manipulated by the Saudi side because of his lack of political experience.
A former White House official said former national security adviser Herbert McMaster asked Kouchner to contact the Saudi Crown Prince to ease restrictions on the Saudi-UAE alliance from the Yemeni port of Hodeidah.
The New York Times also said that the Israelis had built high hopes on the positions of the Saudi crown prince because of his hostility to Iran.
Former US and former US officials have been quoted by ABC as saying that Kouchner pressed officials of the defense and foreign ministries to inflate the amount of arms deals with Saudi Arabia to $ 110 billion.
The network quoted a former National Security Council official as saying Defense Secretary James Matisse had backed Kouchner's efforts and finally endorsed the memorandum of intent.