Dems plan to question Trump nominee on past comments on women and Jews
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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer talks to reporters following the weekly Senate Democratic policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 10. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Senate Democrats are preparing to grill Jeremy Carl, President Trump's nominee to be assistant secretary of state for international organizations, over controversial social media comments — including posts he has since deleted.
Why it matters: With Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee expected to be unanimously opposed, Carl will need to win over every Republican on the panel to be reported favorably to the floor.
- "I am going to ask him about his statements with respect to women, and the antisemitic comments," Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the committee's ranking member, told Axios.
- "I'm amazed that Republicans have not pulled his nomination," said Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.). "He has such a flagrant series of just horrible missteps, discriminatory, antisemitic comments."
- "He's trying to get confirmed for a job in diplomacy," said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii). "And to put it as gently as possible, he has demonstrated that he's not exactly diplomatic."
Zoom out: In September, CNN reported that Carl deleted thousands of social media posts, including one in which he wrote that "the great replacement is real."
- In December, Jewish Insider reported on some of Carl's past comments, including in which he appeared to call for addressing the "Jewish question."
Zoom in: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) set the tone for his party this week when he went to the Senate floor to excoriate Carl.
- "To call Jeremy Carl a radical and a bigot and unqualified is all far too kind," Schumer said.
- "Jeremy Carl has a long history of making violent, antisemitic and openly racist comments on podcasts and on social media — comments he has recently tried frantically to erase."
The other side: "I know Jeremy Carl personally, and he is not an antisemite. He will do much for U.S.-Israel relations," said Michael Doran, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.
- The State Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Flashback: Last October, Trump's pick to be ambassador to Kuwait, Amer Ghalib, saw his nomination implode after a trio of Republicans said they would vote against him.
- At Ghalib's hearing, senators pressed him on his explanation for Hamas' attack on Israel, as well as comments he made that appeared to praise the Muslim Brotherhood.
The bottom line: Democrats said they were prepared to hear Carl's explanation of his past writings but were gearing up for a contentious hearing.
- "A lot of people, when they go up for confirmation, they apologize, or they recant, or they explain, but this guy doesn't seem like he wants to do that," Schatz said.
