President Trump’s personal staff who paved the way for boosting international security, including through the Abraham Accords, were awarded with special recognition from Morocco and the Pentagon this week.
Along with Trump, the awards to senior adviser Jared Kushner, Avi Berkowitz, assistant to the president and special representative for international negotiations, and communications adviser Dan Scavino highlighted their efforts on the world stage at a time when the spotlight has turned to the incoming administration.
In an Oval Office ceremony Friday, Trump led the way by presenting the Legion of Merit, Degree Chief Commander, to Morocco’s King Mohammed VI. Morocco’s ambassador to the United States, Princess Lalla Joumala, accepted the award.
As an award for his work in advancing a normalization deal between Israel and Morocco, Morocco’s ambassador to the U.S., Princess Lalla Joumala Alaoui, gave Trump the Order of Muhammad, an award given only to heads of state in a private Oval Office ceremony on Friday. pic.twitter.com/wyL3z8zl2R
— Safa Press Agency (@SafaPressAgency) January 16, 2021
She presented Trump with the Order of Muhammad, an award given to heads of state, from the king.
She also presented awards from the king to Kushner and Berkowitz, who orchestrated the accords between Israel and Morocco and several other Arab nations (the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Sudan) — the first peace deals in years.
For their efforts in the Morocco-Israel deal reached in December, Kushner was awarded the rank of grand cordon of the Order of Ouissam Alaouite, and Berkowitz was also awarded the rank of grand officer of the Order of Ouissam Alaouite.
Berkowitz said, “It’s been a tremendous honor to serve the country and work on the Abraham Accords with Jared Kushner and the team.”
Also this week, Kushner, Berkowitz, and Scavino were presented with the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, the highest award given to private citizens.
Scavino said he was “humbled and greatly honored to receive the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service. Serving our country is a great source of pride to me.”
Scavino posted a photo of the award on Facebook, drawing over 7,000 comments from fans of his social media posts of insider scenes during the Trump presidency.
