Charles Kushner is living the dream. Four years ago, the real estate developer got a controversial pardon from his son Jared’s father-in-law, Donald Trump. Four years later, his family’s real estate company is worth more than Trump’s, and his family’s net worth, per a recent Forbes analysis, has grown to $7.1 billion — nearly four times what it was when Trump was elected president. And now that Trump has been reelected, he’s sending the elder Kushner to Paris and giving him a free place to stay.
Trump on Saturday announced that he was nominating his daughter’s husband’s father to be the next U.S. Ambassador to France.
It’s quite a turn of events for a guy who once served 14 months in a federal prison in Alabama after he pleaded guilty in 2004 to 16 felony counts of making illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering. Kushner admitted to a revenge and intimidation scheme in which he hired a sex worker to seduce his brother-in-law — who had turned state’s witness against him. Kushner had them filmed having sex in a New Jersey motel room, and then had the video sent to his sister, the man’s wife, in order to pressure her not to testify. Former U.S. attorney Chris Christie famously called it “one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes” he ever prosecuted.
Trump didn’t mention any of that in his announcement. He instead emphasized how Kushner “is a tremendous business leader, philanthropist, & dealmaker, who will be a strong advocate representing our Country & its interests.” Trump also didn’t mention that in 2023, Kushner donated $1 million to Trump’s Make America Great Again Inc super PAC.
It’s not clear if Trump will nominate any of his other pardon recipients as ambassadors. Could Paul Manafort represent U.S. interests in Ukraine? Might Michael Flynn want to return to Moscow? Will Roger Stone get to show off his Nixon tattoo on the beaches of southern Italy? We’ll have to wait and see.
This post has been updated.
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