Trump Organization negotiator, Bush-era veteran named to posts
President-elect will fill remaining roles soon, his team says.
WEST PALM BEACH — President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday appointed an experienced hand from the George W. Bush administration to his national security circle and a figure from the Trump Organization to make international deals.
T h o m a s B o s s e r t w i l l become an assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism. A statement from Trump’s transition team said Bossert will advise the president on issues related to homeland security, counterterrorism and cybersecurity, and coordinate the Cabinet’s process for making and executing policy in those areas.
The position notably “is being elevated and restored to its independent status alongside the national security adviser,” the statement s a i d. Pol i c y makers have long debated whether such national security jobs should operate independently from the White House.
Bossert will work closely w i t h T r u m p ’ s p i c k f o r national securit y adviser, re t i re d Lt . Gen. Michael Flynn. Bossert is currently president of the risk management consulting firm CDS Consulting. He previously served as deputy assistant to the president for homeland security under Bush.
The president-elect also appointed one of his main advisers on U.S.-Israel relations as special representative for international negotiations. Jason Greenblatt has worked for the Trump Organization for over two decades and currently serves as its executive vice president and chief legal officer.
In the statement, Trump said Greenblatt “has a history of negotiating substantial, complex transactions on my behalf ” and has the expertise to “bring parties together and build consensus on difficult and sensitive topics.”
Trump recently named his other top adviser on Israel, David Friedman, as his pick for U.S. ambassador to the Jewish state.
Tr u mp’s West Wing i s shaping up to have multiple power centers. Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and senior adviser Steve Bannon will work as “equal partners,” according to Trump, and counselor Kellyanne Conway is also expected to have autonomy. In addition, Trump’s influential son-in- law, Jared Kushner, will have a direct line to the president.
In New York on Tuesday afternoon, police hastily cleared the lobby of Trump Tower to investigate an unattended backpack, only to find that it contained children’s toys. Video taken by a bystander and posted on Twitter showed people running through the lobby for the exits.
The bomb squad checked out the package and gave an “all clear” just after 5 p.m.
Trump lives in the tower and has his offices there, although he is spending the holidays at his Palm Beach resort, where he’s held a steady stream of meetings with senior staffers, advisers and business executives. A number of key posts in his government remain; his transition team says he will fill those positions in the coming days. WEST PALM BEACH — Donald Trump cannot move ahead with his plan to dismantle his charitable foundation because New York state prosecutors are probing whether the president-elect personally benefited from its spending, the state attorney general’s office said Tuesday.
“The Trump foundation is still under investigation by this office and cannot legally dissolve until that investigation is complete,” said Amy Spitalnick, spokeswoman for state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
The statement came after Trump announced that he wanted to dissolve the Donald J. Trump Foundation, part of what his presidential transition team says is an effort to erase any potential conflicts of interest before he takes office Jan. 20.
But the foundation’s inner workings have been the subject of Schneiderman’s investigation for months and could remain a thorny issue for Trump’s incoming administration. Democrats nationally have said they are ready to raise any legal or ethical issues from Trump’s global business empire during his presidency.
Trump’s charity has admitted that it violated IRS regulations barring it from using its money or assets to benefit Trump, his family, his companies or substantial contributors to the foundation.
The admissions by the Donald J. Trump Foundation were in a 2015 tax filing made public after a presidential election in which it was revealed that Trump has used the charity to settle lawsuits, make a $25,000 political contribution and purchase items, such as a painting of himself, that was displayed at one of his properties.
The 2015 t ax filing was posted on the nonprofit monitoring website GuideStar on Nov. 18 by someone using an email address from the foundation’s law firm, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, said GuideStar spokeswoman Jackie Enterline Fekeci.
In the tax filing, the foundation acknowledged that it used money or assets in violation of the regulations not only in 2015, but in prior years. But the tax filing doesn’t provide details on the violations.
Schneiderman, a Democrat, launched his investigation into the charity after reporting by The Washington Post drew attention to some of the foundation’s purchases.
Trump asserted on Twitter late Monday that his foundation was run efficiently.
“T h e D J T Fo u n d a t i o n , unlike most foundations, never paid fees, rent, salaries or any expenses,” the president-elect tweeted.
“100% of the money goes to wonderful charities.”
Trump and his companies gave about $6 million to his foundation since its launch in 1987, according to tax filings. The most recent tax filings go up to the end of 2015.
Other people have collectively given about $9.5 million.
The biggest outside donors were Vince and Linda McMah o n , t w o p r o - w r e s t l i n g moguls, who gave the Trump Foundation $5 million between 2007 and 2009.
Trump recently nominated Linda McMahon to head up the Small Business Administration.
Trump himself gave nothing to his foundation from 2009 to 2014, filings show.