U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has come to the defense of his senior advisor, David Milstein, after Politico accused him of soliciting cash gifts to celebrate his wedding.
According to Politico, Milstein sent a wedding invitation asking for “monetary wedding gift[s]” in either “U.S. dollars or shekels,” before taking down the QR code after it was sent to more people than intended. “Unfortunately, our email/message intended only to respond to requests from family and close family friends who had asked us if we had a gift registry was unintentionally sent to the broader guest list. Please know we cannot accept gifts of any kind,” the revised statement said.
Huckabee condemned the report on X and called Milstein a “brilliant policy wonk who was assigned to Embassy Jerusalem having served in President Trump’s first term in a similar role and with great distinction.”
“Those of us who actually know David and appreciate him wanted to know how best to celebrate his upcoming wedding,” he added. “We are genuinely excited for him and thrilled that he found enough time away from his obsession with work that he met a beautiful young lady, proposed, was told yes, and has a date set for the occasion.”
“I’m glad Milstein is on our team. He is of great value to the President’s policy initiatives and to Embassy Jerusalem. I’m glad he’s getting married to a most delightful young lady. And my wife and I will be glad to do something that the writer seems to find objectionable—we will try to find some meaningful gift because we are fond of the couple, want them to stay married at least as long as we have (52 1/2 years) and hope our gift is something they need or like,” Huckabee further stated. “I speculate that he, she, or it who wrote this pathetic story is jealous because either he, she, or it has never found a person willing to marry them, or perhaps this person lacks any real friends who would be moved to joyfully extend a wedding gift to him, her or it.”
