From the courts to the hostage file... Get to know Trump's new envoy

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From suing major corporations to negotiating the release of prisoners, American lawyer John Cole built a career that combined legal confrontation and political bargaining, before moving to one of the most sensitive assignments in the administration of President Donald Trump.

After his experience in negotiating with Belarus, Cole is now assuming a broader mission after Trump chose him as special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, based on the outcome of contacts and negotiations in Eastern Europe.

Trump announced his selection, today, Sunday, on the “Truth Social” platform, to succeed Adam Buehler, who will continue to serve as a senior advisor. The appointment comes more than a year after Cole's contacts with Minsk, during which he made the issue of prisoners and detainees a focus of negotiations between the United States and Belarus.

While Trump said, explaining his choice, that Cole contributed to securing the return of more than 65 Americans and citizens of allied countries from Belarus during the past year, and he also negotiated the release of more than 800 political prisoners from several countries in Eastern Europe.

As for Buehler, Trump praised his role in returning 196 hostages, stressing that he will continue to be used as an advisor on other files.

Thus, Cole moves from a communications department focused on one country to a broader responsibility related to the American hostage file, based on an experience that the White House places at the forefront of the reasons for his selection.

Before entering the world of diplomacy, Cole became prominent in major compensation cases, and was one of the first American lawyers to take legal action following the gas leak disaster in the Indian city of Bhopal in 1984. During the 1990s, he also participated in lawsuits against tobacco companies.

While his legal battles later extended to the technology sector. In 2021, he formed a legal team to sue Facebook, Twitter, and Google, against the backdrop of the suspension of Trump’s accounts.

While these stations revealed a professional path that combined litigation and issues with political and media dimensions. Cole's relationship with Trump dates back to before he assumed foreign negotiating duties, while he married journalist Greta Van Susteren.

In his dealings with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Cole adopted a direct style in which he sought to build a personal relationship that would help advance the negotiations.

During an event for the McCain Institute, Cole spoke about some of his meetings with Lukashenko, noting the use of informal language and meetings at the dining table, considering that these details formed part of his method in building communication channels.

But the personal relationship was not the only tool in the negotiations. The releases in Belarus were coupled with the easing of some US sanctions, making economic incentives one of the tools for negotiating the fate of detainees, according to the Associated Press.

Although a number of detainees were released, this approach remained controversial. In September, the Belarusian opposition criticized the authorities, accusing them of arresting new people in exchange for releasing others, and warned that rapprochement with Washington could lead to the normalization of relations despite continued political repression.

This dilemma will move with Cole to his new mission: achieving tangible results through negotiation, while balancing the incentives and concessions offered by Washington.

While the White House places the release of detainees at the forefront of Cole's agenda, his new mission will remain linked to a broader question about the limits of deal-based diplomacy, and whether temporary agreements are capable of addressing the issue of hostages and detainees from its roots, rather than simply releasing new batches of them.