Members of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team said Friday that the chief legal officer at the Trump Organization would be joining his administration as special representative for international negotiations, according to reports from the Wall Street Journal and CNN.
Citing an unnamed source familiar with the appointment, CNN reported that Jason Greenblatt would primarily be working on the Israel-Palestinian peace process, America’s relationship with Cuba and trade agreements.
A two-decade veteran of the Trump Organization, where he handled domestic and worldwide real estate deals and other business, according to the Journal, Greenblatt worked for the law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP before being hired by Trump.
Greenblatt was a key advisor to Trump on U.S.-Israel relations during the presidential campaign, though an August profile in Politico noted he had “no formal background in foreign policy.”
“While I have more people giving me opinions, advice, knowledge, the end result, when you filter through, is I’m not any more equipped to deal with the situation than I was a couple months ago,” he said, referencing the stalemate in the peace process.
Greenblatt stressed to Politico that the informality of the Trump Organization had extended to the presidential campaign.
“There’s nothing specifically that would require a block of 30 minutes,” he told the publication, adding: “If a terror attack happens, I’ll pop my head into his office, I’ll alert him to it and he’ll immediately ask for something to be put out.”
