Tom Barrack, CEO of Colony Capital, speaks at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. July 21, 2016. REUTERS/Jim Young/File Photo
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday picked Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former Fox News host turned political fundraiser, as the next U.S. ambassador to Greece and Tom Barrack, the chair of his 2016 inaugural committee, the next ambassador to Turkey.
Guilfoyle has been engaged to Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. since December 31, 2020.
"For many years, Kimberly has been a close friend and ally," Trump said in a post on social media platform Truth Social. She is "perfectly suited to foster strong bilateral relations with Greece, advancing our interests on issues ranging from defense cooperation to trade and economic innovation," he said.
Guilfoyle is not the first appointee with family ties.
In November, Trump announced plans to nominate his son-in-law Jared Kushner's father, Charles Kushner, as ambassador to France and to appoint Massad Boulos — the father-in-law of his youngest daughter, Tiffany Trump — as a senior adviser on Arab and Middle East issues.
Trump's pick for ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack is a longtime friend of the Republican president-elect. He's also a private equity executive and has been previously been charged with unlawfully acting as an agent of the United Arab Emirates and was acquitted in 2022 of all nine counts he faced.
Trump described Tom as a "well-respected and experienced voice of reason," in his post announcing the appointment.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose in West Palm Beach, Florida and Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Leslie Adler and Michael Perry)
