WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump said he’ll nominate Charles Kushner as U.S. ambassador to France, offering a prime diplomatic post to his son-in-law’s father and a real estate developer he once pardoned.

“He is a tremendous business leader, philanthropist, & dealmaker, who will be a strong advocate representing our Country & its interests,” Trump said in a statement Saturday on his Truth Social network. “Together, we will strengthen America’s partnership with France, our oldest Ally, & one of our greatest!”

Kushner is the father of Jared Kushner, who is married to the president-elect’s daughter Ivanka Trump, and who served in Trump’s first term as a senior adviser to the president.

The elder Kushner founded the real estate firm Kushner Cos. He was sentenced in 2005 to two years in prison after pleading guilty to assisting in the filing of false tax returns, retaliating against a witness and making false statements to the Federal Election Commission. Trump pardoned Kushner in 2020 during his first term in the White House.

Kushner was prosecuted by Chris Christie, then a U.S. attorney in New Jersey, who later became the state’s governor and an adviser to Trump. Christie and Trump later fell out and the former governor ran unsuccessfully against him for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

The elder Kushner was a co-host of a fundraiser for Trump in May.

During his first term, Trump’s ambassador to France was businesswoman Jamie McCourt.

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