President Trump could be considering two wealthy Southern Californians and major GOP donors for ambassadorships. In an interview with th…
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President Trump could be considering two wealthy Southern Californians and major GOP donors for ambassadorships.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump said he is mulling over naming long-time friend Tom Barrack, an investor and former Hollywood studio head, as the U. S. ambassador to Mexico .
“I’ m thinking about it. What do you think? Do you like him?” Trump said when a Journal reporter asked about Barrack as a potential candidate for the role. “Tom Barrack, yes? Call him up, tell him I’ m giving it to him.”
Barrack hosted Trump’s first major fundraiser and raised tens of millions of dollars for a super PAC supporting Trump’s candidacy in 2016. He also spoke shortly before Trump accepted the GOP nomination at the Republican National Convention, and planned the president’s inauguration earlier this year.
Kelly Roberts, who owns the Mission Inn in Riverside with her husband Duane Roberts, is being considered as the ambassador to Slovenia, the birthplace of First Lady Melania Trump, according to New York Magazine.
The couple has donated millions of dollars to Republican candidates and causes over the years.
Duane Roberts made his fortune in frozen burritos before buying and restoring the Mission Inn in 1992. The historic hotel has long had ties to GOP royalty — the Nixons married there and the Reagans honeymooned there.
If Barrack and Roberts are named ambassadors by Trump, their appointments would require Senate confirmation.
