New Jersey real estate developer Charles Kushner was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Monday for the ambassadorship to France and Monaco.
He was confirmed in a 51-45 vote.
Kushner, the father-in-law of Ivanka Trump, was previously pardoned by President Donald Trump for federal tax evasion and Federal Election Commission violations from 2005, during the mogul’s first term.
In 1985, he founded the Kushner Companies and has long been a philanthropist, particularly to Jewish causes and institutions like Yeshiva University in Washington Heights, Manhattan.
He has also donated to St. Barnabas Hospital in Essex County, New Jersey, which has a wing bearing his family name.
During his May 1 confirmation hearing, Kushner acknowledged his past legal missteps, claiming they sharpened his judgment and better prepared him for both the ambassadorship and life.
‘I think that my past mistakes actually make me… better in my values to really make me more qualified to do this job,’ he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Kushner, who just celebrated his 71st birthday, was nominated in November after Trump called him a ‘tremendous business leader, philanthropist, & dealmaker, who will be a strong advocate representing our country & its interests.’
