Who are the Arab Americans in the Trump administration?

President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Massad Boulos, Alina Habba, Janette Nesheiwat and Tom Barrack to serve in his administration

Massad Boulos has been nominated for a top position in the new Trump administration. AP

As he prepares to return to the White House on January 20, president-elect Donald Trump has been making cabinet and staff nominations. His choices have so far included four Arab Americans.

Massad Boulos

Mr Trump has nominated Mr Boulos, a Lebanese-American businessman, as his senior adviser on Arab and Middle East affairs. His son, Michael, is married to Mr Trump's daughter, Tiffany.

Mr Boulos was instrumental in rallying support among Arab and Muslim Americans for Mr Trump during the election campaign, particularly in states such as Michigan, a key swing state he won.

Mr Boulos told voters, most of whom supported Mr Biden in 2020, that Mr Trump would forge peace in the Middle East, albeit without providing concrete details. For months leading up to the election, Mr Boulos held meetings with Arab and Muslim-American community leaders, capitalising on anger with the Biden administration over its backing of Israel in its wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

He also met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

A billionaire with business ties in Nigeria, Mr Boulos was born in Lebanon to an influential Christian family, and moved to Texas as a teenager, where he studied law. He then moved on to expand his family businesses in West Africa, operating businesses in making motorcycle parts, among others.

Mr Boulos, 52, has said he has extensive ties to key political figures in Lebanon, including Suleiman Frangieh, a Christian former president who was backed by Hezbollah to be the next head of state. He has also said he maintains ties with the Lebanese Forces, an anti-Hezbollah Christian group, and connections to independent politicians.

He ran for office in Lebanon and his father and grandfather were both politically active. His father-in-law was an important financial supporter of the Free Patriotic Movement, a Christian party aligned with Hezbollah.

Alina Habba

A New Jersey lawyer of Iraqi origin, Ms Habba is set to become Mr Trump's legal counsel when he is in the White House.

She is managing partner of Habba, Madaio and Associates, and has represented Mr Trump in a series of legal challenges, including a defamation lawsuit and a fraud lawsuit in New York where he was charged with inflating the value of his assets. She has been advising him on legal matters and representing him since he left office in 2021.

Ms Habba, who was born in the US, has Iraqi ancestry and is Chaldean, the largest Christian denomination in Iraq and one of the Catholic Church’s Eastern rites. Her family left Iraq in the early 1980s to escape religious persecution. She identifies as an Arab-American Catholic and says she is “very religious”.

During Mr Trump’s presidential campaign, Ms Habba was often featured on conservative news media outlets. She also spoke at the Republican National Convention and accompanied Mr Trump on the campaign trail. She was also a speaker at the Madison Square Garden rally in October.

Janette Nesheiwat

Late last month, Mr Trump nominated Dr Nesheiwat to serve as the Surgeon General, “the nation’s doctor".

Born in New York City to Jordanian-Christian parents, Dr Nesheiwat worked as an urgent care doctor and later became a medical director at CityMD, a chain of clinics that operate in New York and in New Jersey. During the pandemic, she regularly appeared on Fox News as a medical contributor.

She also has family ties to the Trump administration. Her sister, Julia Nesheiwat, was a homeland security adviser in the first Trump administration. She is also married to Florida Representative Mike Waltz, who has been nominated as national security adviser.

Dr Nesheiwat, 47, is one of five siblings who was raised by a widowed mother after their father was killed in a “freak accident”. Dr Nesheiwat accidentally knocked over a handgun in the house, causing it to discharge and hit her father in the head. That experience reportedly motivated her to become a physician.

Tom Barrack

A prominent businessman, Mr Barrack is a billionaire and a long-time friend of the president-elect. Mr Trump nominated him as the next US ambassador to Turkey.

The grandson of Lebanese-Christian immigrants, Mr Barrack founded the private equity firm Colony Capital. He was the chair of Mr Trump's first inaugural committee in 2017, and two years ago he was acquitted of federal charges accusing him of unlawfully lobbying.