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CNN
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Donald Trump has selected his son-in-law Jared Kushner’s father, Charles Kushner, to serve as the next US ambassador to France, the president-elect announced Saturday.
Trump described Charles Kushner as a highly successful business leader, philanthropist and dealmaker, with deep experience in the real estate industry.
“Charlie is the Founder & Chairman of Kushner Companies, one of the largest & most successful privately held Real Estate firms in the Nation. He was recognized as New Jersey Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young, appointed to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, & served as a Commissioner, & Chairman, of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, as well as on the Boards of our top institutions, including NYU,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
Kushner was pardoned by Trump in 2020 after serving a prison sentence following a conviction on federal charges. Chris Christie, who led the case as the US attorney for New Jersey, said in 2019 that Kushner committed “one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes” he had prosecuted.
Kushner hatched an elaborate revenge plot to target his brother-in-law, William Schulder, a former employee turned witness for federal prosecutors in their case against Kushner. As part of the plot, Kushner hired a prostitute to lure Schulder into having sex in a motel as a hidden camera rolled. A tape of the encounter was then sent to Kushner’s sister and Schulder’s wife. Ultimately, the intimidation stunt failed, and the woman turned on Kushner.
He pleaded guilty in 2005 to 16 counts of tax evasion, one count of retaliating against a federal witness and another count of lying to the Federal Election Commission.
Trump’s announcement comes as Jared Kushner has said he doesn’t plan on serving in the president-elect’s second administration. Kushner said at an event in Miami in February that he’s been “very clear” in his desire to focus on his private equity firm “at this phase” in his life.
Kushner, however, is seen as being pivotal to the incoming administration’s Middle East efforts, even though he is not likely to take a formal job within it, regional diplomats and Trump allies told CNN earlier this month.
Since Trump left office in 2021, Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, have moved to Miami and largely exited politics. Kushner founded an investment fund, Affinity Partners, shortly after leaving Washington with major backing from sovereign wealth funds in the Gulf.
During Trump’s first tenure, Kushner’s fingerprints were on many, if not all, of the administration’s agenda items, including immigration, relations with China, the Middle East and the White House’s coronavirus response.
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Pamela Brown, Katelyn Polantz, Kevin Liptak, Kylie Atwood and Ali Main contributed to this report.
