Zelenskyy explained, “I told him that if he gave us the weapons we need and stopped supporting Putin, we would let him build Trump-branded hotels and other Trump-branded buildings in Ukraine’s ten largest cities, as well as Trump golf courses in the countryside. He was quite excited.”   read more

In 2007, Marino had to recuse himself from an organized crime investigation because he’d signed a letter of referral for Louis DeNaples, who had ties to a crime family. Under investigation by the Justice Dept, Marino resigned and went to work for DeNaples. In Congress, Marino sponsored a law at the behest of big pharma to make it harder to stop sales of addictive drugs--causing the DEA to show an “immediate” rather than “imminent” threat to the public to stop sales.   read more

Although Bridenstine has a sincere interest in space and NASA, his extreme right-wing views, including climate change denial, have drawn criticism from scientists and even politicians from his own party. A backer of Donald Trump for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, he lobbied for a job in the new administration after the election and positioned himself for the NASA nomination. He deleted most of the social media posts, many containing speeches denying climate change, made by his campaign.   read more

In 2010, Foote was in Colombia as director of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) section in that country. In Afghanistan he served as coordinating director at the embassy, where he managed U.S. civilian foreign assistance and law enforcement activities. In 2015, he returned to Washington as a deputy assistant secretary for INL to oversee its activities in Afghanistan and Pakistan, in addition to its Office of Anticrime Programs.   read more

President Trump may hope he can rely on Murphy's lifelong GOP partisanship to stymie a GSA Inspector General probe into his company’s GSA lease for the building where the Washington Trump Hotel is located. In March, GSA exempted Trump from being in violation of a lease provision, a decision called “unbelievable” by two prominent law professors. Since January, Murphy has served as White House liaison to GSA but it's not known whether she had any input on the Trump Hotel GSA lease decision.   read more

André’s first experience in Africa came courtesy not of the State Dept, but of the Peace Corps, which sent him to work as a volunteer in Senegal from 1983 to 1985. He returned to Africa to work on a refugee resettlement project in Chad from 1988 to 1990, then joined the Foreign Service for postings in Nigeria, Cameroon, and Bangladesh. At the State Dept, André served as deputy director of the Office of West African Affairs in the Bureau of African Affairs and also worked briefly in Iraq in 2005.   read more

Pon served in the White House Office of Public Liaison during the final year of the George H. W. Bush administration, and worked for such corporations as Federal Express, PetCo and Burger King. In 2003 he joined OPM, focusing on modernizing the federal government’s personnel practices, including helping to lead the rollout of USAJobs. Pon left OPM in 2006 to serve as chief human capital officer at the Department of Energy. He left the agency in 2008 to join mega-contractor Booz Allen Hamilton.   read more

In 1970, Malek was named special assistant to President Richard Nixon. Afraid that Jews working in BLS were making him look bad with unemployment statistics, Nixon told Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman, “We’ve got to get a man in charge who is not Jewish to control the Jewish … do you understand?” Haldeman gave the job to Malek, who came back with a list of BLS employees with “Jewish-sounding” names, some of whom were demoted. The "Jew counting" scandal came back to haunt Malek in later years.   read more

As assistant director in the Dept of External Resources, in 2004 Mohamed coordinated global relief efforts in Maldives for the aftermath of the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. Speaking at the UN Human Rights Council in 2015, he said his government rejected freedom of religion for its citizens, as well as LGBT and non-traditional forms of families. Representing a low-lying island nation, his focus in foreign relations has been to urge other nations to cooperate to reduce global warming.   read more

Since 2011, Antonov has emerged as a vocal proponent of Russia’s increasingly aggressive foreign policy. Known as a “bull terrier,” he accused the West of waging an “information war” against Russia. He said the West masterminded the ouster of Ukraine’s pro-Russia president in 2014 to “contain” Russia by making Ukraine into a “frontline of confrontation.” He also helped plan Russia’s invasion and annexation of the Crimea, as well as Russia’s support for pro-Russian militias in Ukraine.   read more

In 2015, Laloniu served as Tuvalu’s first high commissioner in New Zealand. As a diplomat from an island nation, he applauded the U.S. agreement to the Paris Climate Accords. But now he'll be dealing with a U.S. administration that has pulled out of the accords, increasing odds of flooding in his country. "For Tuvalu...we are already suffering from climate and sea level rise," he said. "Living with fear and uncertainty on a daily basis is not our normal way of life nor should it be anybody’s.”   read more

Two years after being made head of educational affairs for the Royal Family Council, Al Khaifa. became director of education and the Social Affairs Directorate. In 2007, he was named director of planning and followup for the General Organization for Youth and Sports and the following year became the its human resources director. In 2010, Al Khalifa was appointed to a four-year term as governor of Bahrain’s Southern Governorate, the largest such political division.   read more

While serving as his nation’s deputy secretary of foreign affairs in 1996, Sisilo was reportedly part of a government delegation that was briefly abducted at gunpoint by Papua New Guineans who had crossed into Solomon Islands territory. He later served as permanent representative of the Pacific Islands Forum, an organization comprised of 18 Pacific Island countries, to the World Trade Organization. From 2008 to 2010, he was acting secretary for foreign affairs and trade of neighboring Nauru.   read more

In 2000, Ghana's president appointed Adjei-Barwuah to a plum diplomatic post—ambassador to Japan, with concurrent accreditation to four other nations. Adjei-Barwuah served seven years in the post, leaving temporarily in 2007 to run for President of Ghana, and left permanently before the election, which he lost. Out of work, he was accused in 2009 of misappropriating funds donated by a Japanese chocolate firm. He denied the allegations and suffered no legal consequences.   read more

As secretary general of Slovenia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vidovič negotiated a 2016 deal for Slovenia to gain control of six former Yugoslav diplomatic buildings in Brazil, Morocco, Tanzania and Mali that Slovenia was supposed to get under the terms of the 2001 accord specifying the terms of Yugoslavia’s breakup. Vidovič is one of the founding members of the SMC—Slovenia’s Modern Centre Party—a center-left organization. He is also Slovenia’s ambassador to Mexico.   read more

In 2001, Beleffi moved into the diplomatic world as deputy permanent representative to the Council of Europe, which works to uphold human rights, democracy, rule of law in Europe and promote European culture. Beleffi was named ambassador to Germany in 2007. In 2008, he added the post of deputy permanent representative to the United Nations to his portfolio and in 2011 was additionally named ambassador to Canada.   read more

A longtime Republican, Buchan backed Trump for president after other GOP candidacies imploded. He co-hosted a $25,000-a-person fundraiser at the home of future Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross so donors could meet Trump and RNC Chairman Priebus. Buchan and his wife donated $898,000 to Trump Victory, accompanied Trump to rallies, the Republican Convention, and all three presidential debates. On inauguration day, they attended church with Trump and sat nearby as he was sworn-in as president.   read more