In what ethics experts are calling a glaring direct conflict of interest, a significant business partner of both President Donald Trump and his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner is pursuing a $2 billion government contract to build new headquarters for the FBI.

“It creates a huge conflict,” said Rep. Gerald Connolly, a Virginia Democrat who sits on the House Oversight Committee. “It’s an enormous project. The exposure here for the Trump administration is very real.”

Vornado Realty Trust, a giant New York real estate firm whose founder and chairman, Steven Roth, is a longtime friend of and occasional adviser to Trump, is one of three finalists for the rights to develop a new FBI headquarters and campus in the Washington, D.C., region. Roth is helping head up Trump’s infrastructure advisory council and traveled with the president as he rolled out his plans last week, briefly sharing the stage with him in Cincinnati — with Trump introducing him to the crowd as one of “the greatest builders in America.”

Through business partnerships with both the Trump Organization and the Kushner Co., Roth’s firm has a level of financial co-dependence with the first family that Connolly said could spark intense debate over the Trump administration’s handling of potential conflicts.

Vornado and the Trump Organization are jointly invested in two buildings: one in Manhattan and another in San Francisco. Vornado is also in the midst of negotiations with the Kushner Co. about the future of a troubled investment by Kushner’s family in a New York City skyscraper at 666 Fifth Ave., according to a Kushner Co. spokesman. The company came to the rescue of the Kushners when it agreed to an arrangement that gave Vornado 49.5 percent of the office portion of the New York tower and 70 percent of the retail space.

Through a spokesman, Kushner told ABC News he will work hard to avoid any conflict between his White House work and his family business.

“Jared takes the ethics rules very seriously and would never compromise himself or the administration,” a White House official told ABC News. “In consultation with the Office of the White House Counsel, he is fully complying with federal ethics rules and will recuse as necessary.”

Already, Kushner has faced questions about presentations his family firm made in China — a road show in which his sister referred to his White House stature as she marketed a New Jersey development to potential investors. Noah Bookbinder, the executive director of the ethics watchdog group CREW, said he harbors even greater concerns about the FBI headquarters project. It is not uncommon in Washington, he said, to find indirect conflicts of interest, where a broad policy change might benefit someone close to a political leader, but this is different.

“This is a case where the conflict is direct,” Bookbinder said. “They have business ties to a company that stands to benefit from a direct decision of the administration.”

Earlier this year, Kushner announced he had stepped away from roughly 200 positions in the various entities that make up the vast family business, though he continues to have a financial stake in the company. In April, Kushner’s lawyer Jamie Gorelick told The New York Times that her client could not shed investment funds that were tied up in buildings.

“The real estate assets that Kushner is holding on to are unlikely to pose the kinds of conflicts that would trigger the need to divest,” Gorelick told the Times. “The remaining conflicts, from a practical perspective, are pretty narrow and very manageable.”

Reached last week, a spokesman did not indicate whether Kushner would weigh in on the decision about the FBI headquarters contract, which is expected to be made by the General Services Administration later this year. Not only will the winning bidder have the rights to develop an expansive new campus for the federal law enforcement agency, but also the government has agreed to convey ownership of the existing FBI headquarters, an iconic building that sits on Pennsylvania Avenue in one of the most coveted locations in the nation’s capital. Vornado is partnered in its bid with the JBG Companies of Chevy Chase, Maryland.

Connolly expressed concern about the ability of the General Services Administration to act independently of any influence from the White House. He and other lawmakers have questioned the way the agency handled the federal lease for the Old Post Office Pavilion, a government property in Washington, D.C., that is now home to the Trump International Hotel. The lease agreement included a provision prohibiting any elected official from holding an interest in the agreement, but the GSA ruled that Trump’s interest in the hotel did not run afoul of that requirement.

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