Dear Editor:

Donald Trump's New Year’s gift to France, the guarantor of our independence from the British Empire, our ally in World Wars I and II, and the country that honored her NATO commitment to fight alongside us in our post-9/11 wars will be … Charles Kushner, Jared’s father and (like Jared’s father-in-law), a convicted felon.

Barely escaping incarceration for his own 34 felony counts, Trump issued a 2020 pardon for Kushner, who had served two years in prison after pleading guilty to 18 counts of tax evasion, retaliation against a federal witness, and blackmailing his brother-in-law with a sex tape featuring a prostitute Kushner had hired for the job.

The prosecutor who led the government’s case against him in 2005, Chris Christie, described Kushner’s conduct as “one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes that I prosecuted when I was U.S. attorney.”\

Who better to represent the United States in Paris, the capital of global diplomacy? I am sure President Macron will be flattered and impressed when this ex-con presents his letters of credence at the Elysée Palace in January.

At his campaign rallies, Trump repeatedly claimed that the U.S. is “the laughing stock of the world.” This nomination would be funny, indeed— if it weren’t so despicable.

Bill Hammond

Boothbay