Adam Boehler, the CEO of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, addresses the daily coronavirus task force briefing in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 14, 2020.
Leah Millis | Reuters
President-elect Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he has chosen Adam Boehler, the chief executive officer of Nashville-based healthcare investment firm Rubicon Founders, to serve as special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, with the personal rank of ambassador.
Boehler was a negotiator on the Abraham Accords in 2020, which helped to normalize relations between Israel and several Arab states. Boehler worked alongside his friend Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a senior White House advisor at the time.
“He has negotiated with some of the toughest people in the World, including the Taliban,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Wednesday announcing Boehler’s selection. “Adam will work tirelessly to bring our Great American Citizens HOME.”
Boehler responded to the announcement with a post of his own, writing, “There is nothing more important than bringing Americans home. Under @realDonaldTrump’s leadership, there will finally be action and consequences. We will BRING THEM HOME.”
Trump’s announcement of Boehler followed the news this week that American citizen Omer Neutra, a hostage in Gaza who was believed to be alive, had in fact been killed in the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.
The same day Neutra’s death was announced by Israeli authorities, Trump warned that “there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East” if the hostages held by Hamas are not released prior to his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025.
As of Thursday, approximately 100 hostages were still being held in Gaza, according to NBC News. Slightly more than 30 of the hostages were believed to have been killed in the 14 months since they were taken.
“Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW!” Trump wrote in the Monday post.
Long-running negotiations for the release of hostages and a ceasefire in Gaza were halted in November, after Qatari mediators grew frustrated with what they said was a lack of good-faith efforts from the parties at the table.
A few weeks later, Trump’s incoming special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, traveled to Qatar and Israel, Reuters reported on Wednesday, raising the prospect that the Gulf state might be willing to resume its mediation role in some future talks.
For the next six weeks, however, the Biden administration remains firmly in the lead of any negotiations. The White House reportedly viewed Witkoff’s meetings more as an opportunity for him to better understand the situation, than as a full diplomatic effort.
Boehler will assume a role that is currently held by special envoy for hostage affairs Roger Carstens, who was appointed by Trump in 2020. Carstens was one of the rare Trump appointees who Democratic President Joe Biden kept on when he took office in 2021.
During the first Trump administration, Boehler also served as the chief executive officer of the newly created U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, which sought to bring several U.S. international funding agencies together under one roof.
During the Covid pandemic, the new agency was also tasked with coordinating some of the medical supply chain, parts of which were working under an emergency Defense Production Act mandate from the White House.
The agency came under fire in 2021, after a government watchdog report found that it had failed to make promised loans with funds that were appropriated to it. In response, the DFC said the approval process for the loans had become much more cumbersome than it initially expected.
