This is an adapted excerpt from the Dec. 2 episode of “Inside with Jen Psaki.”
It’s getting to be that time when the news cycle is so crazy that some of the wildest storylines out of Trump world start to fly under the radar. That’s what happened this past weekend when Donald Trump announced his choice to be ambassador to France — a position once held by Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson.
On Saturday, Trump announced on social media he would give that plum diplomatic post to New Jersey real estate mogul Charles Kushner, father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner. Like Trump, the elder Kushner has also faced allegations of corruption throughout his life as he built up a family empire.
Seems like a typical story out of the Trump orbit, right? A wealthy convicted felon who’s a friend of the family.
In fact, if you’re curious why Kushner wasn’t in Trump’s last administration, it might be because he’s a convicted felon.
Back in 2004, Kushner pleaded guilty to 18 federal charges, arising from hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal campaign donations he made as a New Jersey political power broker. Kushner admitted to violating election laws, tax evasion and witness tampering. He ended up serving two years in federal prison. Seems like a typical story out of the Trump orbit, right? A wealthy convicted felon who’s a friend of the family. But actually, no one in Trump’s inner circle has ever done what Kushner did to obstruct justice.
Back in 2003, when the federal grand jury investigation of Kushner began, the jury heard evidence from two key witnesses: Kushner’s sister and her husband. When he pleaded guilty, Kushner acknowledged that after he found out some members of his family were cooperating with authorities, he arranged to have a prostitute seduce his brother-in-law in a motel room in New Jersey where video cameras were installed. The plot succeeded and Kushner later had a videotape sent to his sister.
Then-U.S. Attorney Chris Christie called it “one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes” he had prosecuted.
But in Trump’s last days as president in 2020, he gave the elder Kushner a presidential pardon, one that was roundly criticized even among his many other questionable pardons. And now Trump wants him to be the ambassador in Paris and the top diplomat to one of America’s oldest nuclear-armed allies. The ambassador to a country where they have the internet and Google and certainly know all about Kushner’s past.
This would be bigger news if not for the avalanche of alarming reports surrounding Trump’s other nominees. But guess what? Kushner isn’t even the only presidential in-law named to get a job this week. Then-U.S. Attorney Chris Christie called it “one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes” that he had prosecuted. On Sunday, Trump announced on social media that he was naming Massad Boulos to be a senior White House adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs. Boulos is a Lebanese American businessman and the CEO of SCOA Nigeria, a billion-dollar auto company. He has no diplomatic experience, but he is the father-in-law of Trump’s daughter Tiffany Trump. So, I guess the question is: Just how many important government positions can you hand out to wealthy friends and family, including convicted felons with no relevant experience, before that government crumbles under the weight of its own corruption? I honestly don’t know the answer. But we may be about to find out. Allison Detzel contributed.
Jen Psaki is the host of "The Briefing with Jen Psaki" airing Tuesdays through Fridays at 9 p.m. EST. She is the former White House press secretary for President Joe Biden.
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