[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 120 (Wednesday, July 17, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4885-S4886]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     Nomination of Lynda Blanchard

  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I regret that I come to the floor to 
announce my opposition to one of President Trump's political nominees, 
Ms. Lynda Blanchard. To be honest, I cannot even believe that we are 
considering her nomination on the floor of the Senate.
  U.S. Ambassadors are supposed to represent the best of America to 
nations around the world, and I challenge my colleagues, Republican and 
Democrat alike, to look at this nominee's record and tell me with a 
straight face that Lynda Blanchard should represent the United States 
anywhere.
  Look, I have made a good-faith effort to work with this 
administration to confirm a number of well-qualified individuals to 
State Department positions that are vital to advancing America's 
interests around the world. I don't think anyone can deny that.
  But there are some nominees who just raise too many red flags, and I 
raised this to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a letter I sent in 
June of 2018, shortly after his confirmation.
  I explained that a number of nominees before the Senate Foreign 
Relations Committee had demonstrated histories of questionable 
temperament and judgement, of questionable conduct, of #MeToo issues, 
just to mention a few, and I expressed my hope that we could work 
together to find qualified nominees to the U.S. Department of State. I 
am disappointed that that effort went unheeded.
  Ms. Blanchard has a history of using Facebook as a platform to post 
incendiary, false articles and disturbing statements. For example, she 
once shared an article titled ``The Clinton `Body Count' EXPANDS--5 
Mysterious DEATHS in the Last 6 Weeks,'' resurrecting the vicious lie 
and preposterous conspiracy theory that President Bill Clinton and 
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have systematically murdered 
political opponents and associates.
  Then, on election day of 2016, she posted on Facebook ``Make God our 
Father paint this country Red with the Blood of Jesus!''--
inappropriately using religion as a blunt instrument in a political 
campaign.
  She has also shared articles by the far-right Conservative Tribune, 
some of

[[Page S4886]]

which were taken down for failing to meet its ``editorial standards''--
quite literally, fake news.
  What is perhaps most disappointing to me is that 2\1/2\ years into 
the Trump administration, none of this is particularly new. We have had 
Trump diplomatic appointments call for putting political opponents in 
prison, such as Kyle McCarter, President Trump's Ambassador to Kenya, 
who tweeted on election night of 2016: ``Hillary for prison. No, 
really!''
  We have had Trump diplomatic appointments, already at their posts, 
make totally inappropriate and inflammatory forays into American 
politics, which is taboo for the Foreign Service, such as in June of 
this year, when Carla Sands, President Trump's Ambassador to Denmark, 
appeared to accuse former President Obama of an ``attempted coup d'etat 
in America''--the U.S. Ambassador in Denmark, June of 2019.
  And we have had Trump diplomatic appointments embarrass the country 
by making false claims and then failing to take responsibility for 
them.
  Pete Hoekstra, appointed by President Trump as Ambassador to the 
Netherlands, has claimed that there were ``no-go zones'' too dangerous 
to enter due to Muslim migration. When asked about these statements, 
Ambassador Hoekstra claimed they were ``fake news'' until he was 
confronted with footage of his own words.
  This is not normal. We cannot grow accustomed to this kind of 
disgraceful behavior. We cannot look at the poor behavior of already-
confirmed nominees and conclude that we should lower our standards when 
it comes to Ms. Blanchard's nomination.
  This is the U.S. Senate--supposedly, the world's greatest 
deliberative body. We should examine the fitness and qualifications of 
every single individual nominated to be the face of America in nations 
across the world. We should expect our Ambassadors to represent the 
United States with dignity, respect, and sound judgment, and we should 
remember that America's role as a leader of nations rests on our moral 
standards and greatest values.
  Something is wrong if we willingly confirm people to these positions 
who repeatedly spread fake news, baseless slander, and the most 
despicable of conspiracy mongering.
  For these reasons, I will be opposing the nomination of Lynda 
Blanchard and urge my colleagues to do the same.
  I yield the floor.

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