U.S. President Donald Trump announced eight new appointments to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, which oversees the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.
The move comes days after Trump fired several of Joe Biden-era appointees from the board, including Doug Emhoff, the husband of former vice president Kamala Harris.
New appointees include Alex Witkoff, CEO of the Witkoff Group, son of U.S. special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, and pro-Israel conservative radio personality Sid Rosenberg, host of “Sid & Friends in the Morning” on WABC.
Rosenberg has been a fierce supporter of Israel and Trump, speaking at the latter’s campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in 2024 and this year’s JNS International Policy Summit. He was in Israel when he received news of his appointment, according to Israeli media.
Alex Witkoff wrote that he was “proud to be appointed” to the council.
The others are Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz, founding editor and publisher of haredi Orthodox publication Yated Ne’eman; Barbara Feingold, a Republican Jewish Coalition board member; Betty Schwartz, a previous board member of the museum and the daughter of a Holocaust survivor who helped found it; Ariel Abergel, who worked for Fox News and in the White House during Trump’s first term; Robert Garson, president of the American Association of Jewish Lawyers; and Fred Marcus.
While council members are often political appointments, they usually serve five-year terms. The council is traditionally made up of 68 members, including 55 members appointed by the president.
In addition to Emhoff, the other Biden-era appointees Trump removed included Biden’s former White House chief of staff, Ron Klain; Susan Rice, a former U.S. national security advisor; Jon Finer, former deputy national security adviser; former labor secretary Tom Perez and Anthony Bernal, a senior adviser to former first lady Jill Biden.
