AMBASSADOR/NOMINATIONS/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump announced his intention Tuesday [7-18-17] to nominate former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman to be U.S. ambassador to Russia.
If confirmed, the former 2012 GOP presidential candidate would take over a high-profile post amid ongoing investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and potential contacts between Russian officials and the Trump campaign.
CBS News correspondent Major Garrett first reported the president would go that route in March.
Huntsman has twice served as an ambassador. He was the nation’s top diplomat to Singapore under President George H.W. Bush and then served in that role in China under President Obama before returning to the U.S. to run for president.
Huntsman was also briefly under consideration to be Mr. Trump’s secretary of state…
The White House made the announcement shortly after it confirmed that Mr. Trump had a previously undisclosed conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a dinner at the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, earlier this month.”
-Associated Press, “It’s official: Trump to tap Jon Huntsman as U.S. ambassador to Russia,” CBS News, July 19, 2017 01:45am