Massad Boulos doesn’t have meaningful diplomatic experience, but he’s Tiffany Trump’s father-in-law; he campaigned for the Republican ticket this year; and so Donald Trump has chosen him to serve as his senior adviser for Arab and Middle Eastern affairs in his second term.
But as it turns out, the president-elect’s other daughter also has a father-in-law, who’s also poised to get a notable position in the second Trump administration. NBC News reported:
President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday said he would nominate Charles Kushner, a real estate developer and the father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner, as ambassador to France. … The president-elect also mentioned his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is married to Ivanka Trump, in the post, highlighting the work Jared Kushner did in his first administration.
At first blush, it might seem curious that the president-elect chose members of his extended family, twice in the same weekend, for governmental jobs.
But when it comes to Charles Kushner, there’s a bit more to this story.
Kushner is perhaps best known for having been convicted of tax evasion, witness tampering, and making illegal campaign contributions. Of particular interest, though, was the fact that Kushner, according to evidence uncovered by prosecutors, hired a prostitute to coax his brother-in-law — who’d agreed to testify against him — into a motel room and then sent a video recording of the sexual encounter to Kushner’s sister, all in the hopes of keeping him silent.
None other than former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, during his tenure as a U.S. attorney, prosecuted the case and later called Kushner’s actions “one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes that I prosecuted.”
As NBC News’ report added, “In 2005, the elder Kushner was sentenced to two years in prison as part of a plea deal after he pleaded guilty to 18 counts.”
Shortly before Christmas Eve 2020, when Trump was preparing to leave the White House and it seemed implausible that his political career would recover, the then-president pardoned Kushner.
Evidently, that wasn’t a big enough gift — and four years later, the president-elect decided to reward Kushner with a plum diplomatic position, too. As a rule, it’s not common for people to make the transition from prison to an ambassadorial position in Paris, but in the world of Trump, strange things happen. To be sure, this is hardly the most controversial of the Republican’s many ridiculous personnel choices, and no one would be shocked to see the GOP-led Senate confirm Kushner to the diplomatic post next year. But as the process advances, it’s worth appreciating what Trump and his team are doing to lower contemporary personnel standards. It’s also worth wondering if anyone else in Trump’s family might also soon be tapped for interesting federal jobs.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
Latest Post
Recommended
