WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Donald Trump, the president-elect, announced on Saturday that he plans to appoint businessman Charles Kushner, the father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, as ambassador to France.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump announced the news and praised Charles Kushner as a great businessman, philanthropist, and negotiator.
Kushner founded the Kushner Companies, a real estate company. Trump’s eldest daughter, Ivanka, is married to Jared Kushner, a former senior adviser in the White House.
After entering a guilty plea to tax evasion and illicit campaign donations years prior, the older Kushner was pardoned by Trump in December 2020.
Charles Kushner allegedly devised a plan for intimidation and retaliation after learning that his brother-in-law was assisting federal investigators in an inquiry, according to the prosecution.
Prosecutors claimed that after hiring a prostitute to entice his brother-in-law, Kushner set up a concealed camera to capture the interaction in a motel room in New Jersey and forwarded the recording to his own sister, the man’s wife.
Kushner ultimately entered a guilty plea to 18 charges, including witness tampering and tax evasion. In 2005, he was given the maximum punishment possible under a plea agreement—two years in prison—but it was less than what Chris Christie, the then-U.S. attorney for New Jersey and ultimately the state’s governor and Republican presidential contender, had demanded.
Christie referred to Charles Kushner’s actions as “one of the most abhorrent, disgusting crimes that I prosecuted when I was U.S. attorney” and blamed Jared Kushner for being fired from Trump’s transition team in 2016.
Their children were married in 2009, and Trump and the elder Kushner were acquainted through real estate circles.
Associated Press, by FATIMA HUSSEIN and ERIC TUCKER
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