Developer Charles Kushner Confirmed As U.S. Ambassador To France
New Jersey real estate magnate Charles Kushner is now the U.S. ambassador to France after he was confirmed in a 51-45 U.S. Senate vote Monday night.
The father of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and founder of Kushner Cos. joins a Trump administration stacked with real estate figures.
Kushner has a storied past that includes being sentenced to two years in prison in 2005 after pleading guilty to tax evasion tied to $6M in campaign contributions he passed off as business expenses, The Washington Post reported. He also admitted to witness tampering and making false statements to the Federal Election Commission.
Kushner was pardoned by Trump at the end of his first term in 2020.
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker was the only Democrat who voted to confirm Kushner, while Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski was the sole Republican to vote against him.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was responsible for prosecuting Kushner during his tenure as a federal prosecutor.
“It’s one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes that I prosecuted when I was U.S. attorney,” he told PBS during a 2019 interview.
Trump has called Kushner “a tremendous business leader, philanthropist, & dealmaker” on social media.
In testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee earlier this month, Kushner said he would work closely with France to bring about greater economic balance and urge the French to invest more in defense, realigning its security vision with that of the U.S. He also addressed his checkered history.
“I made a very, very, very serious mistake and I paid a heavy price for that mistake,” Kushner told the committee, Reuters reported.
Kushner is far from the only CRE professional to make it into the second Trump administration.
Steve Witkoff, the president’s special envoy to the Middle East, has been a major figure in recent negotiations between Israel and Hamas. He made a name for himself developing luxury condos and hotels in New York City and Miami.
U.S. Ambassador to Italy Tilman Fertitta owns the NBA’s Houston Rockets and more than 600 properties across 15 countries.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick was a chairman and CEO at the financial services company Cantor Fitzgerald. He has since transferred his shares in the firm to his children.
He was also previously the chairman of Newmark, but he stepped down shortly after he was confirmed. The brokerage is now paying Lutnick $127M for his 11 million shares since he vowed to divest from the firm.
U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte is the grandson of developer William Pulte.
