Two weeks after Election Day 2024, Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama assured the public that Donald Trump wouldn’t choose “a criminal” for a governmental position. About a week later, the then-president-elect tapped Peter Navarro, who completed a prison sentence earlier this year after being convicted for contempt of Congress, for an advisory post at the White House.
Trump also announced his intention to nominate Charles Kushner — despite his own criminal past — to serve as the U.S. ambassador to France. As NBC News reported, the Senate has now confirmed Kushner to the post.
The Senate voted 51-45 tonight to confirm real estate developer Charles Kushner to be U.S. ambassador to France. Kushner is the father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who was a White House adviser during Trump’s first term. … Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey joined most Republicans in voting for Kushner’s nomination. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted against him.
In case anyone needs a refresher, 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 an NBC News report noted, “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,” including tax evasion, retaliating against a federal witness and lying to the Federal Election Commission.
Shortly before Christmas Eve 2020, when Trump was preparing to leave the White House and it seemed implausible that his political career would recover, he pardoned Kushner. Evidently, that wasn’t enough — and four years later, Trump 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. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
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."
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