The nomination of Amer Ghalib, President Trump’s pick to serve as U.S. ambassador to Kuwait, appeared on track to fail after three key Republican senators said they would oppose his confirmation.
Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, both of Texas, and Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania all said they would not support elevating Mr. Ghalib, the mayor of Hamtramck, Mich., who made national headlines last year when he became one of the most prominent Arab American backers of Mr. Trump’s campaign. The opposition of the three senators, who sit on the Foreign Relations Committee with jurisdiction over ambassadors, is all but certain to be enough to defeat his nomination.
Mr. Ghalib faced bipartisan scrutiny last week during his confirmation hearing, where lawmakers pressed him over his past statements, including a remark regarding Saddam Hussein as a martyr and another refusing to condemn atrocities perpetrated by Hamas. Under questioning, he also labored to explain his position on a resolution passed by the local City Council to support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement focused on Israel.
“I would not vote to confirm him,” Mr. Cornyn said on Tuesday.
“Based on the hearing that we had last week, I’m going to vote no against him. I don’t think he demonstrated that he’s qualified for the role,” Mr. McCormick said in a statement on Tuesday.
Republicans hold a 12-10 majority on the foreign relations panel, meaning that three defections would be sufficient to block Mr. Ghalib’s nomination from being sent to the full Senate if Democrats oppose him as a bloc.
Beyond Mr. Ghalib’s past statements, Mr. Cruz also raised concerns that he appeared to disagree with some of Mr. Trump’s policy positions in the Middle East. He cited a social media post in which Mr. Ghalib appeared to criticize the president’s effort during his first term to normalize relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
“You said that it was a threat to stability and a cause for mourning. Do you continue to oppose the Abraham Accords?” Mr. Cruz asked.
“I don’t recall writing that,” Mr. Ghalib responded. He pointed out that the post was from years before he endorsed Mr. Trump, and said he now believes Mr. Trump’s attention to the region has created “a great opportunity” to promote regional stability.
He also pushed back against much of the criticism of his past statements, noting that some of his posts were made while he was a private citizen, and that many were originally written in Arabic and mistranslated.
When pressed on why he had indicated that he liked a social media post that compared Jews to “monkeys,” he denounced the message and said that he was merely indicating that he had read it.
That did not appear to satisfy the Republicans who already had misgivings going into his hearing.
“I, for one, am not going to be able to support your confirmation,” Mr. Cruz said after the lengthy back-and-forth, becoming the first Republican to broadcast opposition.
“It was concerning to members on both sides of the aisle that he didn’t really answer anybody’s questions,” Senator Pete Ricketts, Republican of Nebraska, said on Tuesday.
There was also considerable discomfort about his performance among Democrats, including from Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the panel’s ranking member who is known for working with Trump administration appointees and has at times provided key votes to advance Mr. Trump’s nominees.
She said his past remarks raised questions about whether he could effectively serve in a role in which he would be responsible for representing the United States government overseas.
“I must say I have grave concerns about some of the statements that you have made,” she told Mr. Ghalib.
Robert Jimison covers Congress for The Times, with a focus on defense issues and foreign policy.
The post Trump’s Pick for Ambassador to Kuwait on Path to Failure appeared first on New York Times.
