Joe.My.God. LGBT News
From the Hollywood Reporter:
Josh Raffel, the top public relations executive for Hollywood producer Jason Blum’s Blumhouse Productions, is departing to work for President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner.
Raffel, who has been with Blumhouse since 2015, will run communications for the White House Office of American Innovation, a new group charged with reforming the federal government using the private sector that will be run by Kushner. Raffel confirmed his new job to The Hollywood Reporter but declined to comment further.
Raffel, 32, previously worked for New York-based PR shop Hiltzik Strategies, where his clients included Kushner’s family business, as well as such entertainment figures as Glenn Beck, Jeff Robinov’s Studio 8, Sony Pictures and Blum. While there, Raffel worked with Trump’s strategic communications director and former campaign spokesperson Hope Hicks, who remains a friend.
From Variety:
The Office of American Innovation is intended to be non-partisan and is working with several industry leaders such as Elon Musk, Tim Cook, and Bill Gates to make government more efficient and forward-looking. Trump won the presidency in part because he promised to bring an entrepreneurial style to the White House.
Kushner’s broad portfolio of assignments, from being tasked with negotiating a peace agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians to engaging in diplomacy with Iraq and China, have raised eyebrows. Raffel, who was based in New York and Los Angeles, will relocate to Washington, D.C. for the job. He is expected to begin his new post in the coming weeks.