6/19/2019

CLIMATE CHANGE/ETHICS/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP PEOPLE/UN: “President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the next US ambassador to the United Nations hit headwinds Wednesday [6-19-19] as senators questioned the impact of her family’s coal fortune on her ability to work on climate issues at the world body. Kelly Craft, the current US ambassador to Canada, acknowledged during a Senate Foreign Relations committee hearing that fossil fuels contribute to climate change and said she would recuse herself from any UN discussions on coal. But as senators raised the question again and again, Craft hedged on the degree to which fossil fuels drive climate change, which the UN described in November as an ‘existential crisis.’ For at least one senator, Craft’s nuanced stance wasn’t good enough. Craft will be replacing former ambassador Nikki Haley, who resigned in October. The job is not expected to be the Cabinet level posting that Haley insisted upon, leaving Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton firmly in control of US foreign policy. But Craft’s political connections as a major Republican donor, both to Trump and lawmakers, may give her more behind-the-scenes clout with the White House and the Republican-controlled Senate than Haley wielded.”

Nicole Gaouette and Jamie Crawford, “Senators press Trump nominee for UN ambassador on climate and her coal ties,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, June 19, 2019 7:19 pm