Donald Trump Picks Two More Jewish White House Aides

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By Daniel J. Solomon January 20, 2017

President-elect Donald Trump announced a flurry of pre-inauguration appointments on Thursday night, giving White House spots to two more Jewish confidants, Avi Berkowitz and Boris Epshteyn.

According to the transition team, Berkowitz will serve as a special assistant to the president, reporting directly to Trump son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner. He recently graduated Harvard Law School before signing with the campaign. Epshteyn will also be a special assistant, filling the role of assistant communications director. He attended Georgetown University and became a friend there of the president-elect’s third son, Eric Trump.

Berkowitz and Ephsteyn both helped Trump on media operations during the campaign. The first crafted “Trump Tower Live,” the online show that was seen as the predecessor to a possible Trump media empire in the event of his loss. Ephsteyn acted as a regular surrogate on cable for the president-elect, developing a reputation for pugnacity.

The new round of appointments fills out the Jewish contingent of the Trump administration, which already included Kushner, Treasury Secretary-designate Steve Mnuchin and Kushner aide Reed Cordish.

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon

Daniel J. Solomon is the former Assistant to the Editor/News Writer at the Forward. Originally from Queens, he attended Harvard as an undergraduate, where he wrote his senior thesis on French-Jewish intellectual history. He is excited to have returned to New York after his time in Massachusetts. Daniel’s passions include folk music, cycling, and pointed argument.

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