Trump names his former lawyer Coale to serve as Belarus envoy

By Kate Sullivan Bloomberg News U S President Donald Trump disclosed he is nominating John Coale as a special envoy to Belarus and demanded President Alexander Lukashenko to consider releasing more political prisoners Related Articles A look at prominent people pardoned by Trump after they tried to overturn his vote loss How Trump s sponsorship for a white minority group in South Africa led to a US boycott of the G summit Trump threatens to sue BBC over edited speech that sparked resignations by news bosses Photos of Americans turning to food pantries as shutdown drags on Senate inches closer to vote on executive shutdown deal Trump credited Coale who is right now serving as a deputy special envoy to Ukraine and was previously one of the Trump s lawyers for the release of Hostages and commented he is going for an additional I would like to thank in advance the Highly Respected President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko for his consideration on the release of these additional people Trump posted on social media Lukashenko who is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin has been sanctioned by various countries including the U S for undermining democracy in the former Soviet republic Bloomberg previously announced that in September Coale recounted Lukashenko during an in-person meeting that Trump had ordered the removal of sanctions on the Belarus state airline Belavia U S sanctions on Belavia were lifted in November Coale also passed on a letter from Trump at the time conveying birthday greetings to Lukashenko according to video posted on the Belarus state-run Belta news facility In August Trump held what he described as a wonderful call with Lukashenko and reported he thanked him for an earlier release of political prisoners and that the two leaders discussed the additional releases Bloomberg L P Visit bloomberg com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC