Jason Dov Greenblatt (born March 30, 1967) is an American lawyer. He was the executive vice president and chief legal officer to

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

and

The Trump Organization The Trump Organization, Inc. is an American Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. Privately owned by Donald Trump, it serves as the holding company for most of Business career of Donald Trump, Trump's business ventures and investments, with ar ...

, and his advisor on Israel. In January 2017, he was appointed as an Assistant to the President and Special Representative for International Negotiations by President

Early life and education

Greenblatt is the son of Hungarian Jewish refugees, and grew up in

Forest Hills, Queens Forest Hills is a neighborhood in the central portion of the borough of Queens in New York City. It is adjacent to Corona to the north, Rego Park and Glendale to the west, Forest Park to the south, Kew Gardens to the southeast and Flushing ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. During World War II, his father fled Szatmárcseke in 1941 as a child, while his mother hid in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

with her family during the Nazi occupation, and fled to the United States after the Hungarian Revolution in 1956. He was born with the given name Theodore but had it legally changed as a teenager. He is the first cousin, once removed, of anti-war activist

Robert Greenblatt Robert Greenblatt (born 1959/1960) is an American television executive, former chairman of NBC Entertainment and former chairman of WarnerMedia Entertainment. He has since launched his production company, The Green Room. Early life and educati ...

. Greenblatt was educated at Yeshiva Dov Revel, the Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy, followed by

Yeshivat Har Etzion Yeshivat Har Etzion (YHE; ), commonly known in English as "Gush" and in Hebrew as "Yeshivat HaGush", is a Hesder yeshiva located in Alon Shvut, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. It is considered one of the leading institutions of advanced T ...

and then

Yeshiva University Yeshiva University is a Private university, private Modern Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City.

where he studied English. In 1992, Greenblatt received a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from the

New York University School of Law The New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it was the first law school established in New York City and is the oldest survivin ...

Career

Greenblatt started as real estate lawyer for the New York law firm,

Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP (known as Fried Frank), is an international law firm headquartered in New York City. The firm also has offices in Washington, D.C., London, Frankfurt, and Brussels. It has more than 800 attorneys wor ...

. In the mid-1990s, he started a cappuccino coffee company, with pod machines at Penn Station and the New York City airports, but following the rise of Starbucks, sold his business and returned to practicing law. Greenblatt is the creator of the blog ''Inspire Conversation'', a collection of resources for parents and teens, as well as the author of three travel books, one about a family trip to Israel. Greenblatt has worked for Trump since 1997, rising to executive vice president and chief legal officer to Trump and the Trump Organization, and his advisor on Israel. Greenblatt favors a

two-state solution The two-state solution is a proposed approach to resolving the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, by creating two states on the territory of the former Mandatory Palestine. It is often contrasted with the one-state solution, which is the esta ...

, reached by the parties concerned and not imposed from outside by a body such as the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

. Greenblatt has stated that "West Bank settlements are not an obstacle to peace". In late December 2016, Trump named Greenblatt as his Representative for International Negotiations for his incoming administration. On September 5, 2019, it was announced that he would be leaving the White House. In February 2020, Greenblatt joins

OurCrowd OurCrowd is an online global venture investing platform that empowers institutions and individual accredited investors to invest and engage in emerging technology companies at an early stage while still privately held. Based in Jerusalem, the com ...

, global venture investments platform, as a partner with the responsibilities of building ties in the Middle East. In 2022 ''In the Path of Abraham: How Donald Trump Made Peace in the Middle East'' by Jason Greenblatt was published.

Personal life

Greenblatt is an Orthodox Jew, and lives in

Teaneck, New Jersey Teaneck () is a Township (New Jersey), township in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a bedroom community in the New York metropolitan area. The town is know for their pancake throwing contest held ...

, with his wife and six children, the eldest three of which are triplets. His wife, Naomi Greenblatt, is a psychiatrist. In May 2017 Greenblatt received an honorary doctorate from

Touro College Touro University is a private Jewish university system headquartered in New York City, with branches throughout the United States as well as one each in Germany, Israel and Russia. It was founded by Bernard Lander in 1971 and named for Isaac a ...

in New York City.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greenblatt, Jason American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent American Orthodox Jews Living people New York (state) Republicans Lawyers from Queens, New York People from Teaneck, New Jersey The Trump Organization employees Yeshiva University alumni People associated with Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson First Trump administration personnel 1967 births Donald Trump attorneys Yeshivat Har Etzion alumni