Trump's ambassador to France nominee Kushner acknowledges past 'serious mistake'

By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Charles Kushner, the father of President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, told U.S. senators on Thursday he could be trusted to exercise good judgment if confirmed as U.S. ambassador to France, despite his past conviction for tax evasion and witness tampering and other federal charges.

"I made a very, very, very serious mistake and I paid a heavy price for that mistake," Kushner, a wealthy real estate developer, said during a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Kushner pleaded guilty in 2005 to 18 counts, including tax evasion, retaliating against a federal witness and lying to the Federal Election Commission. He served two years in prison, the maximum allowed in a plea deal.

Prosecutors at the time said Kushner learned that his brother-in-law was cooperating with a federal investigation and hired a prostitute to lure him to a motel room for an encounter recorded with a hidden camera and sent the tape to the brother-in-law's wife, Kushner's sister.

Trump pardoned Kushner, whose son is married to Trump's daughter Ivanka, in 2020.

When he nominated Kushner for the highly-prized position in Paris in November 2024, Trump praised him as "a tremendous business leader, philanthropist and dealmaker." 

Kushner is expected to be confirmed. Trump's fellow Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate and have confirmed every Trump nominee who has come up for a vote since the president's second term began on January 20.

When questioned by Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the committee's top Democrat, Kushner noted that he and his wife have made extensive charitable donations and that he eventually would be judged by God.

He also said he felt his experiences would make him a better ambassador.

"I think that my past mistakes actually make me better with my judgment, better in my view of life, better in my values to really make me more qualified to do this job," Kushner told the Senate panel.

The U.S. ambassador to France is typically a major donor or other close ally of a U.S. president.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Paul Simao)