Never before in recent French history has the ambassador of an ally such as the United States avoided appearing at the French Foreign Ministry when summoned for an explanation. But Charles Kushner, their current ambassador to France, and the US president’s brother-in-law (he is married to Trump’s daughter, Ivanka) committed this error, not once, but twice.
The first was last August, when he was summoned to the French Foreign Ministry because he had argued that France was not taking sufficient measures against cases of anti-Semitism, which had increased, in his view, because . The second was on Monday night, when he again did not appear before the French foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barot, to explain his statement that far-left violence is affecting France (on the occasion of ).
Diplomatic protocols that were “broken” only in the Cold War
Because of the serious diplomatic “foul”, Barro said that from now on Kushner will not have access to the French government. Finally, yesterday afternoon, Trump’s brother-in-law spoke by phone with the French foreign minister and pledged not to interfere in affairs concerning France, while he is expected, according to Monde, to meet with Barro in the coming days.
Geneva Convention on Diplomatic Relations
The Geneva Convention (1961) on Diplomatic Relations provides that ambassadors of foreign countries do not interfere in the internal affairs of the countries where they serve. The Treaty also states that ambassadors do not go to the foreign ministry of the country they serve for explanations, only if they are absent on a trip, if they are ill, or if they have been recalled from their country. Their refusal to appear when asked for explanations by their host country may lead to further tension in relations between countries, as was the case between the USA and the USSR during the Cold War.
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Ambassador with extensive experience in real estate
Charles Kushner has no experience as a diplomat, does not know diplomatic protocols and does not speak, as they emphasize in Paris, a word, French. Born in 1954 to Polish Jews who survived the Holocaust and immigrated to the US in 1949, he grew up in New Jersey. His father was a contractor and real estate investor. In 1985, after receiving a law degree from Hofstra University in New York, Charles Kushner founded the construction and real estate management company, Kushner Companies, capitalizing on his father’s clientele.
On June 30, 2004, Kushner was fined $508,900 by the Federal Election Commission for making contributions to Democratic Party campaigns in the name of his corporate entities without authorization. In 2005, he pleaded guilty to 18 counts of illegal donations to political parties, tax evasion and witness tampering. The latest charge related to an incident in 2003. Kushner had orchestrated a revenge plan to target his sister’s husband, William Schulder, a former employee of his business who had turned himself as a prosecution witness against him in a case that federal authorities were investigating for illegal campaign financing by Kushner.
According to the indictment, Kushner hired a girl to lure Schulder to a motel room in Bridgewater, New Jersey, so he could have sex with her while a hidden camera recorded the incident. The video was then sent to Kushner’s sister, and Schulder’s wife, Esther Schulder. But the intimidation attempt failed. The Schulders turned the video over to prosecutors, who located the girl who, under threat of arrest, confessed.
Sentenced to two years in prison
Kushner was ultimately sentenced to two years in prison and served 14 months in a federal prison in Montgomery, Alabama, before being transferred to New Jersey to complete his sentence. He was released from prison on August 25, 2006. As a convicted felon, Kushner was disbarred from the bar and barred from practicing law in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.
After his release, he moved his business operations from New Jersey to New York. By the end of 2016, he and his family’s net worth was estimated, according to Forbes magazine, at $1.8 billion. Kushner hired two former inmates whom he had met during his incarceration as business partners.
Donations to Harvard and both major political parties
In 1998, Kushner donated $2.5 million to Harvard University. His son, Jared, later husband of Ivanka Trump, was finishing high school. He was not a particularly good student, but in 1999, he was accepted into Harvard’s freshman class.
Prior to 2016, Charles Kushner was a Democratic Party donor. In August 2015, he donated $100,000 to Trump’s campaign ahead of the 2016 election. On December 23, 2020, shortly before he left the US presidency after losing to Democrat Joe Biden, Trump pardoned his co-defendant for the crimes he had been convicted of. In 2023, Kushner gave Trump’s campaign a million dollars. He was honored by the US president with his appointment as US ambassador to France on July 11, 2025.
What’s next will happen
For now, the diplomatic episode “will not affect the relations between France and the US in any way”, assures the French foreign minister. The question is whether France could deport Kushner. In theory, yes: French President Macron could declare Kushner persona non grata without justification – which would force the US to recall him. In practice, however, this would mean a clear break between Paris and Washington, and would set a unique precedent.
