Trump withdraws nomination of captive affairs envoy who said US ‘not an agent of Israel’

The US State Department has withdrawn its nominee for the post of the US special envoy for captive affairs, says the White House.

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Friday that Adam Boehler, who had already been working on an interim basis as a special envoy for US President Donald Trump, would continue his services as a “special government employee” for captive negotiations instead of seeking confirmation as the Senate-confirmed special envoy position.

“Adam played a critical role in negotiating the return of Marc Fogel from Russia,” Leavitt said in a statement, referring to an American teacher released from a Russian prison in February.

“He will continue this important work to bring wrongfully detained individuals around the world home,” she added.

Western media ‘manufacturing consent’ for genocide by pinning truce breach on Hamas

To manufacture consent for genocide on Gaza, Western media is busy spinning the narrative and pinning the blame for the ceasefire breach on Hamas, rather than Israel.

Boehler is scheduled to continue his work from a lower-level position in the future under Steve Witkoff, the White House special envoy for West Asia.

An anonymous senior White House official said that Boehler enjoyed “the utmost confidence of President Trump,” but he preferred to work for the US government in a non-confirmed capacity so he would not be required to divest from his health-care investment firm.

However, Israeli news outlets, citing unnamed US officials, linked the move to Tel Aviv’s dissatisfaction with Boehler’s direct talks with the Palestinians representing the Hamas resistance movement in the Gaza Strip for the release of Israeli captives.

“We’re the United States. We’re not an agent of Israel. We have specific interests at play,” Boehler said in an interview with CNN. “And the reality is, what I wanted to do is jump-start some negotiations that were in a very fragile place.”

In an interview with NBC News last week, Boehler said the meetings with Hamas were extremely “helpful.”

Boehler, who had headed the US Development Finance Corporation during Trump’s first term in office, was met with early praises after he helped secure the release of Fogel and an American held in Belarus.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk