President-elect Donald Trump announced on social media Monday that he is nominating billionaire in-law Massad Boolos to be the White House’s senior adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern Affairs, AP reported. Boolos is the second in-law Donald Trump has recently appointed. His son is the husband of Trump’s youngest daughter, Tiffany & Co..DonalddTrumpp. On November 30th Donald Trump announced the nomination of Charles Kushner, the real estate tycoon whose son, Jarred Kushner, is the husband of Donald Trump’s eldest Ivanka Trump, to be the US ambassador to France.
“Boolos is a talented lawyer, a respected leader in the business community and a staunch supporter of peace in the Middle East,” Donald Trump said in a statement Monday, boolos was born in Lebanon and moved to the US, where he founded several companies. During this year’s election, he wooed Arab American and Muslims in key swing states. Reuters said Boolos’s father and grandfather were Lebanese politicians with close ties to Lebanese politicians. The The Hill said Boolos could play a role in advancing the Middle East peace process under Donald Trump because of his ties to Lebanese politics.
Donald Trump and Massad Boolos (left)
Donald Trump’s nomination of another in-law, Charles Kushner, as ambassador to France is more controversial than Boolos’s. Charles Kushner, 70, was sentenced to two years in prison for illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion and witness tampering. In 2020, Donald Trump pardoned Charles at the end of his first term. In this year’s US election, the latter donated large sums to the Donald Trump campaign.
According to the Financial Times, in response to Donald Trump’s nomination of Charles Kushner as US Ambassador to France, “I suggest you look at his resume,” Gerald Aarau, a former French ambassador to the US, wrote on social media platform X. “He knows nothing about our country and does not speak French…”, “At least he has access to the president,” Aarau said. “We can only console ourselves with that.”
The Financial Times also said Donald Trump’s appointment came at a complicated time in us-french relations. Maqueron’s attempts to use personal contacts to smooth relations with Donald Trump have not been enough to bridge the gap between the French and Americans over issues such as NATO, the Middle East and climate.
(CNN) — Donald Trump’s choice of family members for political CNN has raised questions about conflicts of interest and nepotism.
Foreign Policy said it had been a“Bipartisan tradition” for decades to appoint campaign donors with no diplomatic experience as ambassadors. However, US diplomats and experts say this weakens US foreign policy and is in effect a form of institutionalized corruption. Few other countries have appointed rich donors as ambassadors, the report said. “If we continue to use senior positions overseas to ‘reward’ donors and political allies, as we have in the past, it’s not just a diplomatic ploy, it’s really going to be a serious national security issue,” said Brette Brunn, a former diplomat who served as the White House’s Director of Global Affairs during the Obama administration. It will damage our credibility in many countries.”