On April 14, 2020, Adam Boehler, CEO of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, delivered a speech at the daily coronavirus task force briefing in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, the United States.
Leah Millis | Reuters
President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he has selected Adam Boehler, CEO of Nashville-based health care investment firm Rubicon Founders, to serve as the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, with the personal level of ambassador.
Boehler is the negotiator on the issue Abraham Accords In 2020, this helped normalize relations between Israel and several Arab countries. Boller worked with his friend Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and then-White House senior adviser.
“He has negotiated with some of the toughest people in the world, including the Taliban,” Trump wrote in a Truth Society post Wednesday when he announced Boehler’s selection. “Adam will work tirelessly to bring our great American citizens home.”
Boller responded to the news with a post of his own, writing: “Nothing is more important than getting Americans home. Under the leadership of @realDonaldTrump, there will finally be action and consequences. We will bring them back Home.
Trump’s announcement of Boehler’s appointment follows news this week that U.S. citizen Omar Neutra, a Gaza hostage believed to be alive, was in fact involved in the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. Loss of life.
On the same day that Israeli authorities announced Neutra’s death, Trump warned that “the Middle East will pay a heavy price” if the hostages held by Hamas are not released before his inauguration on January 20, 2025.
As of Thursday, approx. 100 hostages They remain detained in Gaza, according to NBC News. Slightly more than 30 hostages are believed to have been killed in the 14 months since they were taken.
“Those responsible will be hit harder than anyone in the long and storied history of the United States of America. Release the hostages immediately!” Trump wrote in a post on Monday.
Qatari mediators were frustrated by what they said was a lack of good faith efforts by the negotiating parties, leading to the halt in November of long-running talks on the release of hostages and a ceasefire in Gaza.
A few weeks later, Trump’s incoming Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff traveled to Qatar and Israel. Reuters reports On Wednesday, that raised the possibility that Gulf states might be willing to resume their mediating role in some future negotiations.
However, the Biden administration remains firmly in charge of any negotiations over the next six weeks. The White House reportedly viewed Witkoff’s meeting more as an opportunity for him to better understand the situation rather than a full-scale diplomatic effort.
Boller will assume the position currently held by Roger Carstens, the special envoy for hostage affairs appointed by Trump in 2020. One of the few remaining Trump appointees.
During the first Trump administration, Boehler also served as CEO of the newly created U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, which sought to bring together multiple U.S. international funding agencies under one roof.
The new agency is also tasked with coordinating medical supply chains during the pandemic, some of which are operating under the White House’s Emergency Defense Production Act authority.
The agency came under criticism in 2021 after government regulatory agencies The report found that it failed to provide promised loans from funds allocated to it. In response, the DFC said the loan approval process was far more cumbersome than initially expected.
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