Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is in favor of President-elect Trump picking his son-in-law to broker peace in the Middle East.
“Having somebody with a totally fresh approach might be a good starting point in the Middle East,” Gingrich said on “Fox and Friends” Wednesday.
Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump’s husband, feels “very passionately about trying to find a path to security and safety for the state of Israel,” Gingrich said.
The Trump surrogate warned that the president-elect will have to probably get an anti-nepotism waiver in order for Kushner to serve in the Trump administration. “I think they would have to get a waiver to the anti-nepotism law. That might be a little tricky.”
The anti-nepotism law was passed by Congress in 1967. It is speculated that the lawmakers wrote the bill after President Kennedy nominated his brother Robert Kennedy to be the U.S. attorney general in 1961.
According to the federal anti-nepotism law, “A public official may not appoint, employ, promote, advance, or advocate for appointment, employment, promotion, or advancement, in or to a civilian position in the agency in which he is serving or over which he exercises jurisdiction or control any individual who is a relative of the public official.”
Gingrich praised Kushner and said, “He was an absolute key to how the amazing Trump victory occurred. … I would favor Jared Kushner’s intelligence and skills being put to good use to the United States.”
He concluded that he hopes “they would move the embassy to Jerusalem on [Jan. 20], … I really hope the president-elect will keep that commitment the day he’s sworn in.”
