President-elect Donald Trump plans on naming the son of an adviser to the Kennedys his ambassador to Ireland, according to a new report.
The Irish Examiner on Friday said Burns, a Massachusetts-born businessman and longtime friend of Trump’s, is the grandson of Irish immigrants, adding he was inducted into the Irish America Hall of Fame in 2013.
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Burns was also named the youngest director of the American Irish Foundation in 1963, it said, which was established that year by John F. Kennedy and then-Irish President Eamon de Valera.
Burns would replace current U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Kevin F. O’Malley.
Irish Central had reported Dec. 5 that Burns was the front-runner for the role after joining Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., for Thanksgiving.
Burns currently resides in Florida, it said, and is chairman of a publicly-owned real estate holding and development company called BF Enterprises, Inc.
Brian Burns’s father, John J. Burns, was a prolific lawyer who served as attorney and close adviser to Joe Kennedy, who was himself ambassador to the United Kingdom.