Donald Trump Jr. attended held talks in Paris last month about finding a way to partner with Russia to end the Syrian conflict The Wall Street Journal reported that a French think tank hosted the talks A leader of the group is a founder of a Syrian opposition group backed by the Kremlin Trump's praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin was praised during the campaign The president-elect told the New York Times his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, could broker peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians Trump is compared to Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega in surrounding himself with family

Donald Trump, Jr. attended talks in Paris in October about partnering with Russia to end the bloody Syrian conflict, it was revealed Wednesday, in just the latest installment of Trump family members carving out a substantive portfolio as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office.

Thirty people attended the event at the Ritz in Paris, the Wall Street Journal reported. Among them were think tank founder Fabien Baussart and his wife, Randa Kassis, who as the paper reported is a leader of a Syrian opposition group that is backed by the Kremlin.

Russia has strongly backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and has been using its military might to attack rival opposition groups using air power. Kassis' group seeks a political transition through cooperation with Assad. 

Donald Trump Jr., son of President-elect Donald Trump, attended talked in Paris last month about ending the Syrian conflict and partnering with Russia

Kassis told the paper from Moscow, 'We have to be realistic. Who’s on the ground in Syria? Not the U.S., not France. Without Russia, we can’t have any solution in Syria.'

Of the president-elect’s son, she said: “I think he’s very pragmatic and is flexible.”

Kassis wrote about the meeting on her Facebook page two weeks ago. 'Syria's] opposition got hope that political process will move forward and Russia and the United States will reach accord on the issue of the Syrian crisis, because of Trump's victory,' she posted. 'Such hope and belief is the result of my personal meeting with Donald Trump junior in Paris in October.'

In addition to reinforcing President-elect Trump's frequent statements of support for Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the meeting signals the wide-ranging portfolios Trump family members have carved out.

Trump told the New York Times on Tuesday that son-in-law Jared Kushner could help make peace between Israel and the Palestinians, when ask