President-elect Donald Trump named Kimberly Guilfoyle, the former Fox News personality, to the post of U.S. Ambassador to Greece and longtime billionaire friend Tom Barrack as Ambassador to Turkey on Tuesday. The picks are both subject to Senate confirmation.
In a thread of tweets, Trump expressed confidence in his choices, boasting that they are of broad backgrounds, and are connected with political and business circles.
Trump saluted Barrack for decades of experience in global private equity, pointing to his leadership at Colony Capital, which he founded. Barrack, who chaired Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee, has been no stranger to legal controversy. In 2022, he was acquitted of charges related to acting as an unregistered foreign agent for the UAE and making false statements to the FBI. Trump, however, called him a “respected and experienced voice of reason.”
In announcing Guilfoyle’s nomination, Trump called her “a close friend and ally” and trumpeted how she would improve U.S.-Greek relations. Guilfoyle, who has been engaged to Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., since 2022, will work to advance U.S. interests in defense, trade, and economic cooperation with Greece, according to the White House. She tweeted that she looks forward to Senate confirmation and underscored her support for U.S. allies while pushing Trump’s foreign policy program.
Both appointments require confirmation from the US Senate. Guilfoyle has long been a booster of Trump while at Fox News, while Barrack’s financial and political relationships with Trump have proven vital to his career at nearly every step.
In addition to these, he named Ronald Johnson, an ex-ambassador to El Salvador, as his nomination for Ambassador to Mexico. The nomination of Johnson among others shows the continuous emphasis of Trump with regard to foreign policy appointments, particularly the ones that are in line with his America First agenda.
Trump also announced that he was nominating Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner, to be Ambassador to France and Massad Boulous, a family friend, as a senior adviser on Middle Eastern affairs.
