Kushner Cos. threatens to sue Fulop for defamation, mayor refuses to apologize

Kushner Cos., the developer suing Jersey City for allegedly halting their One Journal Square project due to politics, has threatened to sue Mayor Steven Fulop for defamation, but he doesn’t appear to be budging: refusing to apologize. 

By John Heinis/Hudson County View

“I got another letter from the Kushner family today threatening to sue me AGAIN. They demand an apology for me saying the truth + they even drafted a tweet for me to send out. It’s not going to happen. I’ll revise my tweet slightly when THEY apologize publicly,” Fulop tweeted late this morning.

“I’m not going to apologize for saying the truth. Whether it’s inaccurately reporting ownership in properties, or misrepresenting $ partners, or outright saying in China that $ in Jersey City properties means lots to the family, i think the public can judge 4 themselves[.]”

The mayor was sent a cease and desist letter yesterday by Joseph Fiorenzo, an attorney for Newark-based law firm Sills Cummis & Gross, which says that Fulop crossed the line when addressing the aforementioned lawsuit alleging bias against President Donald Trump (R).

“It has come to our attention that you have willfully posted false and defamatory statements on your Twitter account concerning the Kushner Companies, Charles Kushner, and certain Kushner Companies personnel,” the letter says.

The particular phrase they took exception to was a tweet that said “they illegally try to use the presidency to make $[.]”

The letter also demands that Fulop “immediately cease and desist from such conduct and remove these and other similar defamatory posts” and post an apology prepared by counsel that reads:

“I apologize to Kushner Companies, Charles Kushner, and the Kushner family for statements that I made concerning their relationship to the President. I have no knowledge of any “illegal use of the presidency” for financial gain and sincerely regret those remarks, which I hereby retract.”

Clearly, Fulop is not currently interested in apologizing or retracting any of his previous remarks at this time.

Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner, used to be the president of Kushner Companies and the One Journal Square Project stalled after the city and the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency “put politics over principle,” The Jersey Journal reported.

In April, Hudson County View first revealed that the JCRA and Kushner Cos. were sparring over a tax break, with the agency alleging that the developer violated their redevelopment agreement the next day.

Earlier this month, Charles Kushner called Fulop “another New Jersey ass*** politician” in an interview with The Real Deal, criticism the mayor brushed off.