U.S. Senator Cory Booker, D-N.J., is facing political backlash after voting to confirm Charles Kushner, the father-in-law of Ivanka Trump, as the U.S. ambassador to France. Booker was the only Democrat to join a majority of Republicans to confirm Kushner 51-45.
Kushner, a real estate billionaire and father of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, was convicted of illegal campaign contributions, witness tampering, and tax evasion in 2005. President Trump pardoned Charles Kushner for his crimes at the end of his first term in 2020.
Booker earned great praise from Democratic circles for a 25-hour marathon Senate floor speech in protest of President Trump’s policies, so much so that his name has been floated around as a potential candidate for president in 2028. However, his decision to confirm someone from Trump’s inner circle has drawn criticism online.
Political strategist and activist Brittany Packnett Cunningham wrote on Threads, “Not only is Kushner a particularly bad vote, Dems need to be a united front against this administration. Now is not the time to be the other party. Now is the time to be the *opposition,* and the sooner Dems realize this, the sooner they can rally a base that needs something real to believe in.”
“Imagine doing a 24 hour filibuster to ‘Save Democracy’ and then being the only Democrat voting for the financial criminal Kushner bc he raised you a bunch of cash Booker is such a fraud,” said Conor Rogers, a Democratic strategist who worked on Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign, on X. “He’s even worse than the openly corrupt because he pretends to be some kind of better angel.”
“Cory Booker losing his newfound Resist Lib credentials by being the only Democrat in the Senate to vote to advance the nomination of convicted felon Charles Kushner (yes that Kushner) to become Ambassador to France is very funny to me. Jersey gonna Jersey I guess,” said pollster Adam Carlson.
In an attempt to defend his vote, Booker told The Daily Beast that he supported Kushner for the France ambassadorship because of his advocacy for criminal justice reform.
“I have passionate differences and disagreements with Charlie Kushner, but I supported his confirmation because he has been unrelenting in reforming our criminal justice system and has substantively helped achieve the liberation of thousands of people from unjust incarceration,” said Booker of Kushner’s role in helping to pass the bipartisan First Step Act, which was signed into law by President Trump.
The 2018 law allowed nonviolent drug offenders the opportunity to reduce their sentences and other penalties through rehabilitation programs.
Senator Booker said Kusher’s incarceration “profoundly affected him” and that without his advocacy “the bill wouldn’t have become law.”
Kushner was apologetic during his confirmation hearing, admitting that he was “not a perfect person.”
“I made a very, very, very serious mistake, and I paid a very heavy price for that mistake,” he said. “I think that my past mistakes actually make me better with my judgment, better in my view of life, better in my values, to really make me more qualified to do this job.”
