The Administration · Inside the White House
Massad Boulos
Senior Adviser for Arab and African Affairs
The father-in-law of Tiffany Trump, Boulos is the president's envoy to much of Africa and the Arab world and has spent 2026 trying to broker a truce in Sudan's civil war.
Biography
Massad Boulos was born in Lebanon in 1971 and came to the United States as a teenager. 5 2 He studied business in Houston and earned a law degree in Texas, then spent most of his career in Nigeria, where he ran a company selling trucks and heavy machinery. 5 2 His son Michael married Tiffany Trump, the president's younger daughter, at Mar-a-Lago in November 2022. 1
During the 2024 campaign he met repeatedly with Arab American and Muslim leaders on Trump's behalf. 1 On December 1, 2024, Trump named him senior adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs. 1 The State Department added the title of senior adviser for Africa in April 2025, after the White House had failed three times to fill its top Africa job, Semafor reported. 2
His first Africa trip took him to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda to push peace talks in eastern Congo and American investment in minerals. 2 In 2026 his main public work has been Sudan. He set out a five-part peace plan in February and has pressed for a humanitarian truce as a first step. 4
On October 3, 2026, he met Sudan's army chief, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, at a lunch hosted by Egypt's president, a rare direct contact. 3 The war, which began in April 2023, has killed at least 59,000 people and displaced about 13 million, the Associated Press reported. 3
In the job
The acts and events that have defined the post so far, oldest first.
Named the State Department's senior adviser for Africa. 2
Toured Congo, Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda to advance peace talks and a minerals deal. 2
With Secretary of State Marco Rubio, hosted the foreign ministers of Congo and Rwanda in Washington, where they signed a declaration of principles. 5
Announced a five-pillar plan for Sudan: humanitarian truce, protection of civilians, permanent ceasefire, civilian-led transition and reconstruction. 4
Said there is no military solution in Sudan and backed widening the United Nations arms embargo from Darfur to the whole country. 4
Met Sudan's Gen. Burhan on the sidelines of an African Union meeting in Egypt. 3
Disputes, and their side
What critics, courts or investigators have said, and the answer given. An allegation is not a finding.
The New York Times reported that descriptions of Boulos as a billionaire at the head of a multibillion-dollar business did not match company records, which showed a small publicly traded truck dealer, according to Wikipedia's summary of the article. 5
Their side: Boulos told the Times he had never gone into detail about the value of his businesses and pointed to the wider family group of companies. The Trump transition rejected the report. 5
Career
- Executive, later chief executive, of SCOA Nigeria, a vehicle and machinery distributor
- Trump campaign emissary to Arab American and Muslim voters
- Senior Advisor to the President on Arab and Middle Eastern Affairs
- Senior Advisor for Africa, Department of State
Our reporting
We have not yet published a story that names Massad Boulos. When we do, it will appear here.
Sources for this file
- Reuters / Times of Israel, Trump announces Massad Boulos as senior adviser on Arab and Middle East affairs, Dec. 1, 2024
- Semafor, Trump's daughter's father-in-law named senior adviser for Africa, April 1, 2025
- AP (via CP24), U.S. envoy holds rare meeting with Sudan's top general in push to seek end to fighting, Oct. 5, 2026
- The National, US working with partners on push for humanitarian truce in Sudan, says Trump adviser, Sept. 19, 2026
- Wikipedia, Massad Boulos, Nov. 13, 2026
File checked Nov. 13, 2026. Something wrong or out of date? Tell the desk.