Transcripts For CSPAN3 U.S. Ambassador To The U.N. Confirmation Hearing 20240714

Honorable kelly craft, currently the ambassador for canada and nominated to be the United States ambassador to the United Nations. First we have two distinguished guests, distinguished and celebrity guests i might add today. And they are going to introduce our nominees or were going to allow them to proceed with introductions. Usually i do senator menendez and i do our Opening Statements first but were going to postpone because i know our guests introducers have important business to do. Were privileged to be joined by ambassador krafts home state senators today, majority leader mitch mcconnell, senator rand paul will be here soon to also introduce the nominee. Senator mcconnell, welcome to the United States foreign Foreign Relations committee. Long known for its kindness to its witnesses and for civility. Your steady and thoughtful leadership inspire us all as you sail this ship through the heavy seas we encounter daley here and we welcome hearing your considered judgment regarding the matter before us today. So senator, mcconnell the floor is yours. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Senator mend he is members of the committee, im really pleased to be here this morning to introduce the distinguished stateswoman and leader and of course a proud kentuckian. The blue graz grass is proud of this daughter of of our commonwealth. Our confident our entire nation will be proud of the service she will render as our ambassador to the United Nations. Of course, most of you are already familiar with kelly knight craft. Almost two years ago i just came here to introduce her nomination to be ambassador of canada. I noted her impressive record of Public Service talked about her Unanimous Senate confirmation back in 2007 to serve as an alternate representative for our delegation for the u. N. General assembly. I described how her performance in that role including her work on the new partnership for africas development showed that ms. Kraft is a talented consensus builder. And i predicted that if confirmed she would skillfully manage erik ins relationship with our flab to the north. A week later her nomination was reported favorably out of this committee on a voice vote. And one week after that she was confirmed by the full senate, again by voice vote. So lets talk about the past two years. And the impressive record of this first ever woman to serve as our ambassador to canada. Historically, that post is not one that is typically viewed as one of the tougher assignments in the diplomatic corps. But it would turn out her tenure brought a host of tough issues and thorny questions to the fore. Everything from rethinking nafta to navigating real differences between canadas leadership and our administration. The replace was tested. By all accounts our ambassador rose to the occasion and did an outstanding job. On economics she helped achieve the successful trade negotiations that culminated in the u. S. Mca, helped secure a new chapter for the Regulatory Cooperation Council between the two countries, and defended access for u. S. Businesses. On the dplomic front, her time as ambassador is seen greater cooperation and coordination on numerous critical fronts. Canada joined the front lines of the new u. S. Led International Sanctions on russia over its actions against ukraine. Canadas played of an Important Role with the limba group, the International Coalition committed to a peaceful and democratic transition for venezuela. And just recently ambassador kraft spoke out forcefully when china unlawfully detained canadian skins. This is a record of significant achievement. Reflects hardwork, careful study and great skill. And she has won respect beth at home and abroad. The current premier of ontario has reflected, quote, every preemier i know thinks of world of her. She really proved herself over some tough times. Thats the premier of ontario. And watching ambassador krafts ten yoir of former canadian ambassador to the u. S. Has concluded he did the job well. Has as it happened im meeting with Prime Minister trudeau tomorrow to discuss the usmca. I know our conversations will only be building on a huge amount of successful work by ambassador kraft to forge the path. For this successful tenure from knick hailey its violates that our next ambassador skiflfully advance our nations interests and values. Thats why im proud to say ambassador kraft is a phenomenal selection by the president. Im proud to support her nomination. And im really proud to be here this morning to introduce her to all of you. Thank you very much. Thank you senator mcconnell we sincerely appreciate that. And we know how busy you are. Well certainly excuse you. Were still waiting for senator paul. When he gets here we will hear from senator paul. Until he does, i will make an opening statement, thenally turn it over to senator menendez to make his opening statement. Today we will consider the nomination of the honorable kelly kraft to be the representative of the United States to the United Nations and to be the representative of the United States to the u. N. Security council and the u. N. General assembly. We welcome all of you and thank you thank you ms. Kraft for your willingness is to serve. As her as senator mcconnell has already given an introduction ill speak for just a few minutes about the importance of this position. Of the approximate 200 countries, the United States is by far the largest donor to the United Nations, providing 22 of the u. N. Regular budget and 25 of the u. N. Peace keeping budget. Compare that to the second largest contributor, china, which pays only 12 of the regular budget and 15 of the Peace Keeping budget. Clearly the u. S. Taxpayer has been extremely generous to the United Nations since its founding in 1945. Due to the United States significant support in leadership, we have been some but not universally successful in pursuing policies which support the interests and values which are shared by many, though not all, of the countries around the world. For example, in the Security Council under President Trumps leadership, the u. S. Has been successful at passing the toughest sanctions ever against north korea in an arms embargo and south sudan. Actions in the interest of paul human beings and our allies, not just the United States. However, the skourt council largely due to russian and chinese misbehavior has failed to make significant progress on some of the most pressing international crisises. Thes United Nations exists to ensure International Peace and security. But two of its members are the instigators of insecurity around the globe. For example, russia has repeatedly used veto at the Security Council to shield its brutal ally, the say sawed regime into investigations into this the war crimes committed. And mcblocks consensus on issues related to burmz complicity in the violence against the rohingya population. Because of in impasse at the u. N. Security council, the humanitarian crises have only increased and become pro longed. The u. N. Plays a vital role in responding to humanitarian crisis. This is where we see and urge burden sharing. While the u. S. Remains the largest donorer to humanitarian crisis across the globe, the u. N. System pushes other countries to contribute appear uses our money as a force multiply ner places such as yemen and venezuela. Its important that the u. S. Continue to pressure the United Nations to spend its money efficiently and effectively. The current u. N. Secretary general has been focused on u. N. Reform. And i applaud this effort. Its long overdue. And much needed. There needs to be robust push to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in the u. N. System. And miss kraft we will be looking forward to you pursuing that which is to important to many on the committee. We should push for Peace Keeping reform while the u. N. Made a new department of reform. We remain concerned about the resources requested in light of downsizing of key missions the car fur, drc and haiti. Where the United States benefits from being a member of the u. N. , the United Nations benefits more, much, much more from the United States being a member. Miss kraft i lack forward to hearing from you, how you can support u. S. Leadership with the u. N. To ensure that it promotes the interest and values, especially values of the United States and of our allies. I have received materials in advance of this hearing. Im going to include them in the record. I want to point to just one in particular, i have a letter of support from gordon b. Griffin giffin, the United States ambassador to canada under president clinton. Mr. Giffin states that i have no do that the experience gained over two years as ambassador to canada has prepared kelly kraft well for the next assignment. With that ill turn this over to Ranking Member senator menendez for his opening statement. Thank you mr. Chairman. Ambassador kraft welcome to the second confirmation for a deeply consequential position. The United States was instrumental in creating the United Nations in the postwar era. Built on founding American Values of democracy and human rights. Multilateral institutions like the United Nations and nato ha have und pinned the peace, proermts and stability the American People enjoyed for decades. The fundamental values and international institutions, however, are under assault today from actors seeking to exploit them for their own agendas, as well as those threatening to abandon and undermine them completely. If confirmed, you will represent the United States at an exceedingly complex time. With mcs growing influence at the u. N. , russia adventurism and obstruction on the Security Council and President Trumps relentless attacks on multilateralism, undermining and withdrawing from Numerous International agreements and agencies defunding agencies like the u. N. Population fund and cutting contribution to our peace skeepg obligation lks o obligations. The American People need someone with tenacity, experience and a deep understanding of the complexities of Global Affairs and international institutions. Who is exited to multi lateralism and reforming and strengthening the United Nations, not err repairably damaging it. Let me be franke, madam ambassador i have deep reservation base your lack of quacks for the role. Historically they have brought executive experience or experience working directly in Foreign Policy. Before your short stint as ambassador to canada, i understand you were active in kentucky and National Party politics and in 2007 you were an alternate observer delegate to the General Assembly. Furthermore, during your one and a half years as ambassador, you spent an excessive amount of time absent from ottawa leaving duties to deputies. Madam ambassador, the most fundamental role is the actively presently and wholeheartedly add volk for american interests, American Values and American Foreign policy. I find in Staggering Amount of time away from post very troubling and abdomens indication of leader. Sppship if confirmed you would serve alongside some of the most experienced, seasoned and sometimes ruthless diplomats from all over the world. Were cold fronting meerd challenges in the word today, including multiplying the conflict, Climate Change, Nuclear Proliferation cutting across borders which the United States cannot meet alone. While the u. N. And subsidiary bodies are far from perfect they have the power to facilitate remarkable achievementing and leverage prrmts if you are confirmed i hope you address thing following priorities. First, we must actively seek to balance chinas influence. This administrations pullback from the u. N. Risks enabling china to fill the vacuum. Mcis eager undermine u. N. Human rights mechanism and impose chinas authoritiarian world view. Second, the i should say the u. N. Must be fair and appropriately condemn human rights abuses and atrocities and stop politically motivated revelations. Wunt of the persisten weakises nab the ugly approach towards israel. You must use your voice to end and combat these efforts. Third, the United States must pay our arrears. The u. N. Is in a financial crisis in part due to u. S. Short faults for peace skeepg alone we are 776 million in arrears. These arrears have accrued in the last three years from the u. S. Paying only 25 of peace skeepg costs i understand what we owed 28 . Last week, the state department you issued its own report detailing that the u. S. Refusal to pay arrears has, quote, this is the state department speaking diminished our ability to pursue u. S. Priorities, reduced u. S. Ability to promote oversight and accountability at the u. N. , reduced standing to promote the candidacy of qualified u. S. Citizens to assume Senior Management roles at the u. N. And impaired the alkt of peace skeepg missions to operate. Close quote. Fourth, the United States must stop stop seeking to restrict access to sexual and Reproductive Health and human rights that improve the lives of women, girls and communities around the world. Most recently the u. S. Egregiously threatened to veto a u. N. Security Council Resolves for survivors of depender based violence over reference to survivors access to sexual and Reproductive Healthcare. That is appalling. And finally the u. S. Must work to shore up the u. N. s humanitarian response system which is under stress. We must do so not merely because the its the right thing to do but because it is profoundly in our National Interest to do so. The United States shares the burden with less risk when we address devastating humanitarian crisisesly the United Nations. Our National Security is strengthen when we are at the table with the u. N. And u. N. Is more effective with American Leadership and values on dpla. Ambassador i look forward to your testimony today on these pressing issues. Thank you, senator. And now we will turn to ambassador kraft. Welcome. Thank you for being willing to undertake this important engagement on before of the people of the United States and the floor is yours. Thank you chairman risch, Ranking Member menendez and all members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to appear here today. It is a singular honor to sit before you as President Trumps nominee to serve as u. S. Ambassador to the United Nations. A special word of thanks of course to my kentucky senators leader mcconnell and senator paul for their kind words as well as this their encouragement, wisdom and support throughout my tenure in ottawa. I would like to express my gratitude to President Trump, Vice President pence, secretary pompeo, ambassador lighthizer and Mission Canada for the trust they have shone me as we have worked together to strengthen our bonds with canada and the canadian people. I appear before you today excited at the prospect of representing the United States at the u. N. But also saddened at the thought of leaving my many superb colleagues and counterparts across the northern border. Mr. Chairman i ams blesswood the most loving and supporting family imaginable. My husband joe, our family, ron, elliott, j. W. Mollie. Ryan lauren, kyle, mia, stu, jane and wyatt. Siblings mark and us spos liz beg my sister micah and her husband bruce. And five of the shining stars five out of 11 in our life we have jake, kingsley, holland, lockland, windsor and our friend fifi. When the president asked me to consider moving to new york to serve as our nations permanent representative to the United Nations, i turned to the people behind me to ask for in re guidance. And to god for his. If confirmed i would assume this position knowing that just like the Toronto Raptors and the kentucky wild cats, i will have a very deep bench. I would also assume this position with clear eyed humility. I have much to learn about the United Nations, a fact i first encountered in 2007 when i served as the alternate delegate to the u. N. General assembly and saw first hand the complexity of multilateral diplomacy at this unique institution. I learned then that making progress at the u. N. Requires constant attention to relationships, a nack for knowing the bottom line, and a belief in incremental but determined steps forward. Ultimately, i would have not accepted the president s nomination for this position if i was not certain i was ready for the task at hand. Like the president , i have had the honor to serve. I believe the United Nations is a Vital Institution that is at its best when free nations jointly contribute to its missions around the world. I was born and raised on a working farm baier all living things were valued and treated with kindness. We were that family with a few oneeyed cats and threelegged dogs. We treasured and protected the land, and all those who worked it and walked it. My parents instilled in me a respect for people of all means, occupations, origin and circumstances. If confirmed, those are the values that will animate my work at the u. N. , as they have throughout my personal and my professional life. And if confirmed, i will carry with me the respect as i engage all of my 192 counterparts. Ly also carry with me several key priorities. Ive already had the opportunity to discuss with many on the committee. Most notably, the United States must continue the drum beat of reform at the u. N. Of course, the issue of reform has been something of a mantra for members of both parties on the committee and for good reason. The u. N. System has grown quickly. Activities have expanded and ambitions at times have gotten ahead of accountability. Waste and overlap remain problems. Conduct issues, including Sexual Exploitation continue to surface. Hiring practices are often too opaque. And back room deals for appointments and contracts continue. None of that is acceptable. And my voice on these matters will be heard whenever and wherever these issues arise. The United Nations needs Greater Transparency. And u. S. Taxpayers deserve it. Reform makes the United Nations stronger, not weaker. The second priority i will take to new york is a focus on expanding the pool of Resources Available to the u. N. s humanitarian network. And pushing its agencies to maximize the impact of those resources on the ground. Where needs are the greatest. There are numerous massive and pro tracted cries from sudan, to yemen to syria. And there are new cries we did not foresee such as the 4 million venezuelans that fled their country in search of safety and sustenance. The United States has long been the world leader in supporting humanitarian aid, spending more than 8 billion a year, the u. S. Aid and International Organizations sump as unicef and the World Food Program. But i also believe other responsible nations can and must do more to contribute their fair share. And i will make this point very firm and frequently. Again, the u. N. Is stronger, not weaker when more of its members are invested in the success of its most important work. Finally, im a believer in the power of Public Private partnerships to unlock opportunity and spur development. If confirmed, i will take to new york a Broad Network of relationships i believe can fuel new partnerships and expand those with proven track records. Among my areas of strong interests for displaced populations are strengthen Prenatal Care Services for women. Improving the quality of Early Childhood education and increasing the attentive challenges to elder care. The numbers are colossal. The needs urgent. And we have a moral and practical obligation to work with other countries to address these crisises. Whielt bolsters human taernl efforts will be a top priority. There is another issue of Global Nature that i would like to briefly address. I understand that some members of this committee have raised questions about where i stand on Climate Change. And though i have spoken to many of you individually about this issue, i would like to repeat my thoughts here publicly. Climate change needs to be addressed, as it poses real risk to our planet. Human behavior has contributed to the changing climate. Let there be no doubt. I will take this matter seriously and if confirmed i will be an advocate for all countries to do their part in addressing Climate Change. This does not mean in my view that the United States should imperil american jobs or our economy as a whole by assuming an outsized burden on behalf of the rest of the world. However, it does mean that we should promote the creativitity and innovation that have made the United States a leader in tackling the challenges of our environment. And while safe guarding our nations economic well being. Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, i believe that the United States must maintain its central leadership role at the United Nations as it should. And i say this for efrl reasons. First, when the u. N. Performs it advances key american objectives, including the promotion of peace and security. Second, without u. S. Leadership our partners and allies would be vulnerable to bad actors at the u. N. This is particularly true in the case of israel, which is the subject of unrelenting bias and hostility in u. N. Venues. The United States will never accept such bias. And if confirmed i commit to seizing every opportunity to shine a light on in conduct, call it what it is and demand that these outrageous practices finally come to an end. Finally, i believe the United States must remain vigilant in constrange efforts by strategic competitors to gain influence at our expense. I speak in particular about russia and china, two nations with cynical approaches to the United Nations. If confirmed, i will miss no opportunity to draw attention to malign influence at the u. N. , to distinguish American Leadership from the corrosive, underhanded conduct of those nations, and to reinforce the values, our values that were central to the u. N. s founding. Mr. Chairman, the United States has been met with many recent successes at the u. N. , from historic sanctions again north korea to renewed boldness in speaking out against rogue actors. There are successes that im eager to build upon. And i look forward to working with this committee and benefitting from its collective wisdom and experience. If given the honor to sit behind the name plate that reads, United States, you have my word that i will do everything in my power to advance policy that benefits the American People, that contributes to a safer, more prospersous world and grounded in an unwavering commitment to universal human rights and human freedom. Thank you to all of you for welcoming me here today. And i look forward to your questions. Thank you, ambassador. Certainly good words, well received. We hope that as you take this position that you will particularly follow through on the reform and cost cutting that is needed there. Many, many people have talked about it. But little gets done. And i have confidence that youre up to the job. When you go there i hope youll take that message from this committee. With that well go to a round of fiveminute questions based upon the arrival and going back and forth between the minority and the majority party. With that ill turn it over to senator menendez. Thank you mr. Chairman. Thank you for your testimony, ambassador. As i said to you in private and raised here in public, i have a concern about excessive absences from post. You gave me your commitment in private. But for the record here do you commit to providing complete records of all the time you spent away from post, including the cables approving your leave and your official calendars. Yes, senator be i do commit you providing with you all the information necessary. Thank you very much. And i appreciate the information you provided. But there are a number of discrepancies. From october 23rd of 2017 to june 19th of 2019 we have that you were away more than 300 days away from the post. Its an extraordinary number of absences. The reds describes each day that you were away from post. From march 21st to may 13th, in that short period of time, you were out 45 of 54 days from the post. Now, there are trips listed as official travel. But some of those trips that you listed as official travel you treated while being home in kentucky. And there is additional travel that you appear to have taken that is not reflected in the information you provided. For example, there are several ins tans where you posted social media messages from places other than canada, although no record of you traveling. Did you ever travel away from post without requesting approval . No, sir. We requested approval in advance of my travel and were in full compliance with my travel. So you always requested and always received approval for your travel. Yes, sir. Okay. So there may be explanations for all of these. But the bottom line is without the full records we cant evaluate. So i would urge you as well as the state department to provide these records so that we can move forward with your nomination. Let me ask you this. Lay out briefly for me the most pressing issues the United Nations faces as well as areas you believe the United States should leverage the United Nations and pursue our Foreign Policy priorities. Thank you, senator for that question. And thank you for in conversation that we were able to have yesterday afternoon. I see pressing issues as any issue that involves innocent people throughout the u. N. System throughout the world that are being abused, that are having human rights abuses. I think its very important that who would have ever thought that today we have so many cries in venezuela, in yemen, in syria. And its so important that we look after our human rights issues. Because then that in turn is going to be humanitarian issues. So in my opinion i look at every issue when it involves an innocent civilian as a crisis. Well, i appreciate your response in terms of humanitarian issues. And i would share those with you. But i would expect someone who is the nominee to be the u. N. Ambassador in response to that question to talk about, for example, the challenges of north korea, aggression and Nuclear Proliferation, the challenges in libya, destabilize libya. Process the challenges of chinas growing influence and ongoing threats from iran, the challenges of venezuela, those are minimally some of the hots spots in the world right now. When i ask about the most pressing issues and i i certainly embrace the humanitarian issues. But these are the types of issues youll be called upon as the United States ambassador at the u. N. To be dealing. Let me ask you this, what u. N. Functions would you zrib as being of the greatest value to the United States . Senator, thank you. I believe that the Security Council is going to be providing the greatest assistance to the u. S. In calling out bad actors and in highlighting anyone that demonstrate antiisrael bias or antisemitism. And i also reiterate that the Security Council is going to be an area that china and russia can actually call themselves out by allowing the world to see how they do not assist us in human rights abuses. And especially in calling out corrosive behavior as we have in iran. It is a moment that we can use to highlight bad actors whether it be iran, the Houthi Rebels in kareemen, russia, china, the way they treat the uyghurs. We have so crisises that the security counsel its important we be able to use them in establishing sanctions and also in making certain that we tackle human rights abuses every day. And one follow up question, the you mentioned the Security Council. Certainly its an essential element of u. N. There is a host of other functions that the u. N. Has i would commend to your attention. But russia, the president seeks to develop a greater personal relationship with mr. Putin and russia. How will you seek to avail yourself of that as it relates to russia, the Security Council. Thank you, senator, you know im not going there to be russias friend. Theyre not our friend. They underminus at every opportunity that they have. And you Better Believe i will keep a clear eye on them and understanding where we can work together, whether its north korea, or other areas that we need to call them out on. We have to be very protective of ukraine. We have to understand that they are propping up the assad regime. And also their human rights abuses. Our country has applied more sanctions in in administration than has ever been applied on russia. And i will continue to hold them accountable. We will continue to apply maximum pressure. And if confirmed i will promise you that we would be shining a light on russia. Thank you very much. Thank you, senator paul. We have been anxiously awaiting your arrival. You see we didnt wait for you. Being the ever courteous senator from kentucky. I will make my return. Im sorry i was late i was voting in another committee though. We understand that thank you. Senator isaacson. I know in lady very well. She is a great nominee, a great individual and someone i cherish my relationship with her very much. First of all, mr. Chairman, to you on the Ranking Member, she has been very good at her job as ambassador to canada. But also been very good always looking out for the best interests of the United States. If you listensed to her testimony and i was listening from a phone booth because i have a emergency going oh on back home. Thats why im running back and forth. She is aware of the antisemitism around the world. She is forceful in the remarks about that. And she knows how to use her voice and position at as vad advocate for the right thing today in. She will always try to do the right thing. I was one of the two people nominating Samantha Power when barack obama aped her u. N. Ambassador i did it in this room. Dy it because Samantha Power had and i think exhibited in her term there the same type of qualities that lady has. And if you got that kind of a continuation of representation in the United Nations which is a unique organization to start with then you need to take advantage of that experience and that ability. Now, i didnt hear doctor doctor im probably doing something wrong in the testimony there is a chart over there a lot of red squares on it. Would you tell me what that is behind mr. Cardin. Knows are absences from post. What kind of absences . Just. Thats what we are trying to determine. Okay. Well i dont know where she was. But where it was was in the best interests of the United States of america i can tell that you i think you were doing trade negotiations during that time a lot. Yes, sir, more when President Trump first asked me to be the ambassador to canada he made it very clear as we discussed in your Office Yesterday that this was a real job, that we were going to be renegotiating the most important trade partnership in the world with our number one trading partner, canada. Little did i know i would be living and its my duty just because your job requirements took you somewhere that wane if your office dont mean you werent doing your job. It may mean you were doing more of your job than somebody else. You show me somebody always sitting in the office they are not doing much. I just wanted to bring practice that we didnt practice. I wanted to bring it up. May i add while i was not in my chair in my office i have a of staff of Foreign Service officers second to none and i felt very confident with my with not being in my office because i had people there running the mission as we discussed every day. And i i must brag on the Foreign Service officers, because without them the mission even before i arrived, the mission would have not been run so smoothly. Just two things i took too much of my own. Time and i apologize. Id like unanimous consent that the letter from Gordon Giffin the i think the chairman read from that letter. It will be snit zplood i want to thank you very much. Im sorry i went off track a little bit. But i think its important when we we have somebody representing to the United Nations they be an engaged person who believes in the things we believe in as americans and work hard to get that done. I think Samantha Power did did that. I know youll do it. And im proud to support sfwlu thank you senator isakson. Thank you senator isakson. Senator cardin. Thank you mr. Kmarm. Ambassador kraft thank you for your willingness to serve our country and thank you to your family for j being willing to share new Public Service. We appreciate that. I want to make sure that we have a person as our ambassador at the United Nations that is an advocate for the u. N. We have problems with the United Nations. Make no mistake about it. But it serves a critically important function for u. S. National security. And our ambassador representative to the u. N. Needs to be an advocate to make the United Nations as effective as we possibly can with u. S. Influence. I want to talk about one issue first. Thats the Human Rights Council. I strongly have disagreed with axes in the Human Rights Council. In fact senator portman and i filed legislation dealing with action in the Human Rights Council. But the question is whether we participate or dont participate as a member of the Human Rights Council. And there is a concern that if we are not at the table countries such as china or russia get a much larger audience than if we were there participating. So i want to get your view as to whether you think it is right for us to walk away from the debates in which we cannot win or we are better off staying there making our points and doing the best we other day. Especially talking about the goals of the u. N. Whether or not we are in the room with the Human Rights Council or a member is really not as important as the as the ability as the u. S. U. N. Ambassador to use the Security Council as a platform to call out the countries on human rights abuses. If confirmed, i will use the Security Council as a platform and also understanding that it is not acceptable for the Human Rights Council to constantly undermine israel, to constantly show antiisrael biasen a antisemitism. That is not i agree with you on that. Im not sure the Security Council has the effective way to count whaer the Human Rights Council does. The actions of course there are subject to consensus with the p five if we dont have the permanent members in agreement we cant get action on Security Council. Im not sure thats a substitute. I think using Security Council is critically important. But i would urge your understanding of recognizing were going to be dealing with nations that dont agree with us in forums sometimes we cant control the outcome. Should we participate or walk away . Senator, there are members of the Human Rights Council that are the very members that are committing these horrible human rights abuses. No disagreement from me on that. I mean, i find it just appalling that we have members of a council that are supposed to holding accountable. Let me go to a second subject. You gave athought views that i strongly agree with in regards to Climate Change. And then you said you dont want to assume an outsized burden on behalf of the rest of the world. So i want to drill done on that for a moment. Because the United States is part to the 1992 u. N. Convention on kpliemt to have those issues with the commitments themselves. Then 2015 there was an agreement reached in paris there was an agreement reached by the 100, now 95 basically provides voluntary are you concerned by the actions of the United Nations that the United States is assuming an overburdened share . Is this a concern you have with the work you will be doing in the United Nations to make sure that they are shared globally . We will always, the u. S. Will always be a leader. I have a limited amount of time and i dont want to be rude. I would like to get your view as to the framework whether we were working with the Global Community on climate issues. We feel like as a member of the paris climate agreement we werent showing leadership. We conversed robustly, we expected other countries to step up. While they did commit, they really were not serious. I feel very strongly if confirmed, the Climate Change must be addressed, we need to balance American Economy with the environment and we need to stress to other people the innovation and technology to be used as tools to mitigate Climate Change. If confirmed, i will be the advocate and addressing Climate Change. We cannot count on these actions globally. Do support and commit globally. Paris is not right what is right . Thank you senator, absolutely i do agree with you, including and engaging everyone in the conversation. If you think about why we are committing on the robust manner and other people are not serious, we have underdeveloped countries that are being taken advantage of by china. With their technology and innovation. That is not for sustainability. This is for ownership. We are committed to owned underdeveloped nations we need to use our technology and our innovation sustainability and underdeveloped countries that is what we do really well. Thank you mr. Chairman. Thank you senator. Thank you and good morning ambassador, thank you for being here i wanted to close the loop on the travel question. About the rules for travel correct . Every trip youve taken , every single one of your trips were approved before you took them by the state department. Every trips you took comply with the state department and what they have in place for travel . Yes, senator. We assumed arcs ability our response ability for our expenses whether its diplomat or personal. If you personally paid for even official business . All travel expenses. Its fair to say you saved taxpayers money. Yes we did. I think i know the answer to the question. Could you be in two places at once . I certainly try up thats why we have. What was your top issue with canada , my guess is the trade integration. The nafta renegotiation , im the current ambassador to canada and will be working this evening with the Prime Minister coming into washington. I will be with him tomorrow. Its important. We had moments of doubt and that is why it was imperative, whether this was in canada for the meetings, i was not going to let the country down nor the ambassador or the president. A significant number of these church up on that board negotiate within the United States. Yes, the majority of the negotiations occurred in washington at ustr. The state department would often suggest whether it be a northern governance premier meeting were different meetings with governors in order to really stress the importance of our trade with each state. Each state obviously, canada, i think the 33 of them is the number one trading partner. The state department asked you, suggested that you attend certain events within the United States promote a top priority of the ministration which is the u. S. Mca negotiations and agreement. And thats correct. I received a lot of invitation. I would have to make difficult decisions, staying in washington would be the number one priority. This would be promoting after, u. S. Mca, i would most certainly travel. So the bottom line being, this was not possible for you to both be in negotiation and at some ceremonial event at the third country embassy. You had to make a choice and you prioritized, in those cases, the top priority of the administration regarding the relationship with canada. Yes senator. Talking about attending some of the other events. I think it was important as to whether or not i was present or, obviously if i was not able to attend. It is important to include your team at your mission. I had 400 members, 400 and incredible members, its important for them to have that exposure and to be able to attend so, on many occasions they would ask if they could attend National Days or other Holiday Events throughout ottawa, its a different mission. I dont mean to diminish the importance of these events where they socialize in the diplomat cora gets together. I cannot speak for the canadian government but i have this sneaking suspicion that a forced to choose between having you here and helping focus and land a trade negotiation with them or having you attend this weeks Cocktail Party at some embassy which is not i know thats an important event they would probably have preferred we prioritize the trade deal. Thats my guess. Absolutely. This was not the time to socialize but a time to work. I want ask you one where priority quickly, what have you done in your capacity as the ambassador to canada to advance the president s policy toward venezuela . Thank you senator i know its important to you as to who would have ever thought that we have 4 million refugees in venezuela. Its real importance with canada also, with the lima group, they were gracious enough, i was able to attend the lima group 1 meeting in ottawa. There ambassador designates to canada. They did not, obviously have an embassy because the maduro government the appointees are at the embassy in ottawa. We arranged for our meetings to be at my residence to best understand the latin america countries and the hardships that are being placed on them and taking in refugees such as columbia. Taking in 1 million refugees. You know, they have humanitarian issues within their own country. I think it was important to allow, you know, a place that the ambassador designates, could be heard, and he was very helpful in answering questions and taking back to the interim president , the concerns of the other countries. And you know and, it is so important, theres no other option then for maduro to leave. You know its just really important for us as americans to be, you know, demonstrating the fact that we do care and we are engaged. Thank you mr. Chairman, Ranking Members, thank you. We have three hearings going on at the same time on three different committees on which i serve so, i apologize for being out of breath i literally ran up the stairs from this appropriations hearing where we are marking up and advancing i think an important bipartisan amendment. Now, so, my apologies. Thank you for being here and congratulations on your nomination and for the work that youve done representing us in ottawa. We had the opportunity to talk about some of the concerns, other senators have raised today. Our role in the United Nations, both in its founding, in leading it, and in giving it direction as it is a multilateral entity that helps the world come together to confront the u. S. Press and mobile challenges is a significant and interesting concern to me. The Trump Administration has demonstrated, repeatedly across a number of engagement, a strong impressment for unilateral action and bilateral relationships or multilateralism if confirmed he would be stepping into the most visible and Important Role, i think our government has in a multilateral institution, literally designed and built and funded largely by the United States. In a time when china is asserting its role in multilateral institutions, at least in what they say, to a large extent what they do. As we discussed, the first time i ever met a chinese flag rank officer, was in a peacekeeping, a Un Peacekeeping mission in south sudan. Filling the vacancy, i would argue or withdraw from a number of institutions and organizations are created. Our withdrawal from un bodies as the senator asked you about, does it weaken our ability to push back against their expanding influence and in particular, to effectively question and challenge chinas Human Rights Violations . Thank you senator and for the opportunity for us to talk about our daughters and the importance of , i understand the . When they say we have lost the way we lost the values that the way the un was founded upon, we were founded with the quality, peace and security. And making sure we take care of social Economic Issues and human rights, thats an issue where we need to be very careful and shining a light on china. The way they treat them. They have become the second largest donor which, obviously which is a reflection of their economy at the un, we need to be even more cautious and diligent in the relationship if confirmed, i will build with other members and making certain i understand, yes china is participating in sharing in this burden, as we will always be the leader in contributing to the un however, with china as you well know, they have a motive which is better leverage and taking advantage of these underdeveloped countries through the un system. My hope, madam ambassador, that your voice will be loud and clear and consistent in contributing to the un, not just our financial contributions but our voice and advocate for human rights. On a bipartisan basis across a number of administrations, the un has been a place where we have pushed back criticisms and questioning and challenge of actions of key allies pushing forward on concerns that arent raised anywhere else. It is important to strike the right balance. Im particularly concerned about, what seems to be a withdraw from this long standing bipartisan commitment to a two state solution. Could you tell me about your view of the two state solution and the Central World the un can and should continue to play in advocating as a passport in the middle east . Senator, im going to be confirmed, i will support the president s vision for peace and security in the region. This is why its so important, every time any member or anyone for that matter shows any anti israel bias that not only do we call them out but we explain the process this is slowing do you know whether the president s vision for peace and security include supporting a two state solution . I dont. You senator, ive not been part of the middle east Peace Process. If confirmed, i will tell you, there will be no stronger friend then kelly kraft and the United States for israel. No stronger person to promote israel or normalizing themselves in the system. I have two more questions i will ask briefly, you may want to respond in writing afterward or in some other way, i want to respect the time concerns we have. First, being an ambassador is a fulltime handson job, as im sure has been discussed when i was at the other hearing. Your representation that a lot of you travel out of ottawa has been advanced, if, adequately documented and supported, im willing to take it at face value but im concerned about issues that have been raised about your engagement in attendance in ottawa, new york is harder. Theres more nations and more work and direct, and i would hope you could persuade me that you will be fully indirectly engaged in providing the background, ebola has broken out in uganda. Im concerned while theres many other pressing issues, i know im detaining some of my colleagues with their chance to question, i would welcome hearing from you how you view, this is another opportunity for the administration to lead in a multilateral response, a Global Response rather than a unilateral response. Peace in the middle east, ebola, human rights, and our role overall in the un. I need to hear from you are committed to understanding the value of how we dealt and how we will sustain the institution. Thank you madam ambassador, and will have time that i appreciate the chance to continue this. Do you want that to go to the record . Yes. Thank you senator. Thank you so much. Senator cruise , thank you mr. Chairman. Ambassador crap, welcome, congratulations on this nomination. Thank you for your distinguished service. Im confident in this new post that you will do an exemplary job. I have a word of encouragement in that it is interesting, the principle criticism is manifested on this colorful chart, the committee has put up , the principle criticism it seems leveled against you is that you have traveled and worked too hard in your current post which i find not terribly persuasive criticism and a strong indication that the end result of this is going to be your confirmation but lets dive into the criticism more because i dont think it will stand the barest of scrutiny. I understand some of the travel represented on that chart, including travel to montrial, is this correct . Thats correct. Calgary is in canada. Absolutely pure im assuming, i dont know this but im assuming some of this included travel to toronto. Is this right . Yes. So the last that i checked, you were not the ambassador to ottawa but the ambassador to canada . The investor representing the United States in canada. Indeed. Beginning argument, youre traveling around the nation, you appointed , you were appointed ambassador to, meeting with Business Leaders and Community Leaders and those various towns that somehow a dereliction of duty if you went to your office in ottawa and locked the door and stayed sitting in her office, that is the exact office of what it investor would want to do. As i understand is a can portion of the travel includes travel to participate in strategy and negotiations for the usmc a. Is there a higher priority ensuring the strong and continued economic french up relationship and trade between United States and canada . Theres no issue, its important that the Prime Ministers coming in today to further discuss the usmc a and how he could help implement in ratifying the usmc a through his parliament. And at the same time i guess if you want a good ambassador they may well have left you in ottawa and said you not, we are doing important step between the u. S. And canada , you just stayed up there in the office and we will do the meeting and negotiations every state in the u. S. Relies on the trade partnership with canada if i need to speak to a governor or legislature or mayor. It was vitally important. I will say you and i have known each other a long time we are friends, i will say anyone who knows you, knows that you are tenacious, you are hard working, you do not know how to do a task halfway. That that is simply not in you to do the task halfway, rather, if given a task you will dive in with both feet in and with the energy and passion you have , as how youve done an ambassador to canada, im confident how you will do the job as the ambassador to the un as well. Lets take a moment to talk about just how important the job of ambassador to canada is. Canada is one of the most important global allies. There, the u. S. Defense arrange with canada are more extensive than any other country. We have more than 800 agreements on cooperations across National Security, they are one of my countries that participated in the u. S. Of 35 program. And you have been the point person for the past year and half with u. S. Policy, with canada, can you describe, briefly, how you approach that job, and what you did to strengthen the friendship and relationship between United States and canada . Thank you senator. As you know, it is in vitally important to have the relationship if we go into negotiating. Ambassador, he was extremely important in including this friendship and this initial respect, if you dont have respect, when you are sitting at the table and you disagree, then you wont come back and it will not be productive. Weve had several issues as far as meetings, especially when it came to china and use of 5g Technology Im continuing to stress canada, 2 for nato publicly one more time, the fact that usmc was so important to the canadians everywhere i would go whether it is toronto, calgary, montrial, quibec, rhode island, they would ask me about nafta and usmc at the time it was in nafta. And how important it was to them to their families and to their economy. Their community, that we, the United States, and canada had a very healthy trade agreement. I was available 247 as i will be as confirmed, as the embedded to the United Nations. Thank you ambassador. Thank you very much senator cruise. I appreciate your unpaid advertisement for spending the 2 , weve tried that, the best person ive seen as president of the United States, hes done a good job of getting their attention. Everyones getting their attention on that issue. Thank you mr. Chairman, ambassador craft , thank you for being here today and to consider taking on this difficult position. I appreciated the opportunity to meet with you yesterday as well as our conversation and your passionate support for the un system. I think that is critical to anyone who serves as the ambassador to the un. I appreciate the opportunity to talk with you about the United Nations population fund. I believe this plays a vitally Important Role in providing Health Services to the vulnerable women, two men, and two children in the areas of conflict, poverty, or instability in venezuela, for example, they provide hospitals with desperately needed supplies and training for the few doctors that remain on how to deliver babies. And as we discussed, this work is, its at risk because of the determination of the partners with the programs in china that promote coercive population policies, i very much appreciated your commitment to look into this reports and i have asked multiple representatives from usa to the state department about these reports and i have seen nowhere , any evidence that, any partnership that exists in supporting the programs in china, so, those require abortions for women so, i very much appreciated your commitment to looked to those reports. Would you also meeting with the director, the United States sits on the executive board, they approved the country program. I hope, if confirmed he will agree to meet with the executive director. Yes, absolutely. Thank you. I also appreciated your agreeing to look into the disturbing reports recognizing the reports at the world health assembly. Unfortunately as we discussed this is not the only concerning instance of attacks by the u. S. Mission to the un on Womens Health i will sure that if you are confirmed, the mission to the un, that you will lead, reassert this role at the leading proponent for the women of their rights and their health around the world. Is this something that you believe is important for the ambassador for the United States to do . Absolutely. As we discussed, both of us being mothers of daughters as you could see beautiful granddaughters its so important that the u. S. Takes the lead in the organizations that promote the health and wellbeing, maternal and child health and voluntary family planning. I could give you my word, i will do everything in my power to continue that support through organizations such as the usa id. The World Food Program and the world health program, unicef, we have so many wonderful organizations they are allowing women and children to be healthy and as you know and we discussed women and children are would keep communities thriving we will lose the economy in those communities so thank you for sharing, yesterday, im looking forward to confirm toward working closely with you. Thank you very much for that commitment. As we know, this has been the policy of the United States to empower women around the world, that is good, not just because this is the right thing to do that women give back to the families and the communities, more to their countries, they contribute to this stability of community. In that regard, this committee and this Congress Passed and the bill was signed into law in 2017. It was the peace and security act, it is a commitment to ensure women are part of the negotiating process in conflict areas when peace is being negotiated. The administration, just last week put forward a strategy to implement the women, peace, and security act, it is important. If confirmed, can you commit to furthering the effort at the un including through the body such as you and women who promote the limitation of the principle of women, peace, and security . Yes, senator, i commit i will be an advocate for womens issues and making certain that we really highlight women and children as well as young girls, so that they could also be strong women in their communities and countries. They can have the opportunity, if confirmed, the u. S. , un ambassador. Thank you very much. Thank you mr. Chairman. Thank you senator. Senator paul. Congratulation on your nomination but i was trying to introduce my own bill to prevent government shutdowns in another committee. I could not leave though, i was excited to try to get people to Pay Attention to this. They are excited about your nomination. As you know i supported you to be the ambassador to canada and i will support you to be the ambassador to the un. I do want to explore a couple of questions and issues that are important with regard to the middle east. I do agree with President Trump, the iraq war was a giant geopolitical mistake. Senator paul, as we had this discussion in your office, you know i understand that President Trump has made this statement, he believes the iraq war was a mistake. If confirmed i will be filing the president s policies. Do you agree with the president . I will not secondguess the administration, the current administration, i do acknowledge that the president has made this statement he disagrees with our. The reason this is an important question its not about history or something that happened that has no influence over what happens now, it instructs dozens and dozens of different conflicts around the world. Do you think that the regime change in libya has been to the world advantage or to our advantage . I think the regime change in libya has been important, especially because we do have, you know have power in different situations going on at the moment. It is really important we have a strong presence there. Do you think the world is better off with the regime change or the Current Situation in libya . Well, we had not had a regime change as of yet. And we had a regime change, we are part of france and the United States toppling that leader. Some would argue that we were worse off, that the place is chaotic. It has been rife with terrorist camps, we have now competing factions, we are now giving arms to cutter as of last week, cutter is giving one side of the war, we support the other side of the where we used to support the un sanctioned government now we support some other generals now it sounds like an unmitigated disaster. The reason that i mention this, if this is what happened in iraq, we toppled a strong man, who was not going to get any human rights awards but he also had stability. We replaced it with chaos. We now have a rack which is more closely aligned with iran, iran is stronger because of the geopolitical balance that is tipped in the favor of iran with a rack on. I think the iraq war instructs us whether libya was a good idea. That was not this president but the previous president , there is still a question and there will be questions that will come before the un whether or not the regime change in the middle east is our business, and whether or not it has been to our advantage. The question is going back to libya. Do you think the regime change has been to our advantage . You know, i believe what is really important is that we show strength, we show deterrence, we have a situation in iran with the most corrosive behavior that weve seen, no change in their behavior, speaking about a rack. Theyre trying to take a rack and make it a client state. We have a Political Mission right there. But if the president were here he would respond and say yes, iraq has opened to that because a rack in the majority rules the place because we toppled hussein. A rack is aligning themselves with iran, are they taking over iraq . They are having great sympathy for iran. We have to think these things through. All throughout the middle east, this has been run by ironfisted men, no diplomats or democrats, and know people who believe in constitutional republicans. We have new stability in syria, hundreds of thousands of people fled and hundreds of thousands people died because of this notion that we would get rid of this dictator. It has not worked. Thats the whole point. The point i would like to leave you with is that the president feels like the war was a mistake. Hes probably said this 200 times or more. It instructs what we think about this for other wars, i hope you will take this to heart with what we may get involved with the next country. Realizing for as much of the problems we had with iran, the state in problems, i think i have as many or more with saudi arabia. They chopped up a dissident with a bone saw. Would continue to fuel the arms race, who spreads more of jihadist him and he of christians and religions of the world, 100 billion spent worldwide so all i ask, its a complicated world and i dont have all the answers. Realize in the middle east, thereve been a lot of unintended consequences to our involvement. Thank you. To senator marky. Thank you mr. Chairman. Thank you for the visit in my office. I sent you a letter on may 3 along with senators merkley and whitehouse asking about your families nearly 1 billion coal investment and how they might conflict with any Climate Change discussions that you would have a potential role in in the United Nations. I received this response, this was 9 50 9 am this morning. I would ask if i can include the questions and the answers in the record. This will be included. I thank you. Your response is, dont go to the question which is, its at the heart of the issue. Which is, whether or not there is a conflict from my perspective i think its total for the American People to know , those who are performing their duties could do so in a way that does not have that kind of conflict. I guess my first question is do you believe that your families coal assets would cause a reasonable person to question your impartiality in matters related to the Paris Agreement that is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change or any other climate issue . Its being considered at the United Nations. Thank you senator for this exact conversation in your office and for the opportunity to have this discussion with you, one on one. As you know and as ive stated, my husband and i have worked closely with the office of government ethics. As we did in 2017, we take this agreement very seriously, we were in full compliance. We have, also again, worked very closely with the office of government ethics, developing the 2019 ethics agreement and our commitment to abide by each part of this ethics agreement which we will do. I give you my word, wherever there is any doubt in my mind, as i often did with my 2000 agreement, i will be calling upon the Legal Counsel provided by the state department. Im asking you though, not your Legal Counsel, will you recuse yourself from any fossil fuel related discussions in terms of the impact on Climate Change in your tenure at the United Nations . Senator, as we discussed, where there is the issue of coal and or fossil fuel, i will recuse myself in meetings through the un. I understand. So you will recuse yourself . Yes sir, i understand if confirmed, Climate Change is a top priority at the United Nations. With the ethics agreement, weve made a commitment and i will make a commitment to you. I will recuse myself. I had a team at u. S. Un. You recuse yourself from any matter that will be raised about fossil fuels . When theres coal in the conversation, we are waiting for clarity on fossil fuels for that conversation within our ethics agreement weve asked for clarity. I will give you my commitment, where coal is part of this conversation within Climate Change at the un, i will recuse myself and feel confident, the team and the experts who have been working on the Climate Change issues, specifically fossil fuels and coal. I feel confident they will be able to take my place. Does your family have oil and gas interests as well . I am not aware. I do not know what our interests are. If that was the case, would you recuse those areas as well . To. Absolutely. I would be in full compliance. I give you my word with our ethics agreement. As you know, the United Nations, at the end of 2018, concluded Climate Change is now an accidental threat to the planet and our own scientists 13 federal agencies concluded in november 2018, with business as usual, the planet will warm by 90f by the end of the century and our oceans could rise by 11 feet. This is clearly an important issue. At the heart of it, the scientists believe this is the role fossil fuels and human activity are playing in it. Do you think that United States could effectively steer the debate on Climate Change if we are the only country that is withdrawn from the terrorist agreement . What role did you play . As you withdrew from the board in terms of implementing the decision of the board does this not put you in an awkward position . We feel like we dont have to be part of the agreement the leaders we are seeing a difference between 2000 we are seeing a difference between 2005 and 2017, weve had 14 reduction in emissions, we have had the best and brightest innovation and technology as we discussed. I understand this is an issue that needs to be addressed. I will also understand fossil fuels has played a part in Climate Change. If confirmed do you agree with the u. S. Scientists who say this is largely because of fossil fuels and human activity . Thats just in november 2018 this is february this is every federal agency. I acknowledge theres a vast amount of science regarding client Climate Change. And the tools and the way the role that humans have played in Climate Change. Thank you ambassador for being here and for considering this important response ability. I begin by acknowledging this personal bias here. Kelly and i are longterm friends and also, her husband, senator cruise indicated, she is tenacious and hard working, and i would have relentless, she has great power over people. Her husband has been sitting mayor without moving for a long time. I have never seen joe craft sit in one place so long and so uncomfortably i may add. As he has nothing to do today. I appreciate the surface. I may need to ask for a ride home after this. Your Public Service is greatly valued and appreciated and i would also note your service in the private sector is very much appreciated. We assume we are doing whats right for the country but i would note, every dollar that we have to spend is only valuable if this represents the good or the service produced in the private sector. I deeply appreciate the work that you have carried out in the private sector to provide the employment to people and to provide positive benefits to our country. I would note that, with regards to your families involvement in the investment in coal, coal happens to represent 70 of the power in my home state of utah. Im very anxious to find ways to reduce the Greenhouse Gas emissions but i would note that coal will be for many decades, a major source of power in our country and other countries around the world and appreciate those facilities that provide coal in a clean and effective way providing good jobs to our citizens and a power that provides for the economy and the economies around the world. This turned into a couple of questions relating to your appointment. That is, with regard to your priorities at the United Nations. There are many things going on in the world right now. I dont know whether you gave thought to some of the things you would consider among your highest priorities, perhaps a long list. Would you care to list for us, or describe, as you like, the things you think are the highest priorities he would have as the investor for the United States to the un . Thank you senator and thank you for your time and catching up on our families. It was refreshing. Thank you. Ive given this a lot of thought. I understand that , you know, my time there will not be lengthy in the amount of time and that my top three issues will be performed, humanitarian needs, and Publicprivate Partnership. You know, we have a secretary general who also places reform at the top priority. I cant imagine a Better Partnership and a better teammate to tackle reform. Ive spoken to several of my predecessors and i have been reading about the ones that you know, im going to be walking in their footsteps. I see each of them, ive spoken to this, reform is the top priority. I think this is important. Weve made small and incremental steps. Theres a lot to be done. We owe it to our taxpayers to spend their money wisely and to be stewards of their money and also to make certain that their money is not spent in the un system but out in the field helping the people we are in humanitarian need. I think we need to be cautious and careful about duplication in areas with and the secretariat. To receive better transparency and accountability, i think it is vitally important that we really emphasize putting americans and having americans hired into the system because they are other represented. And also, promoting our allies in the system that share our values. With that, we will have Greater Transparency as you can see with unicef and the World Food Program. We have an cripple transparency as well as accountability and success. Within humanitarian issues, this is something that is dear to my heart. I think that this is important that we stress burden sharing, who would have ever known we had to sort of time in history where we have so many needs throughout the world. Whether it had been in venezuela, yemen, syria, there were so many pressing matters. I think its important that, i would rather call this success sharing because there is Nothing Better than to know when youve helped another person, this is going to be helping hundreds of thousands of people. With Publicprivate Partnership we have been fortunate to have had this experience with the Craft Academy and seeing successes of being able to partner with our state of kentucky and develop the academy for juniors and seniors in high school and the college program. I think i could leverage my relationship and bring them, if confirmed to the un, and the opportunities for developed countries for americans to go in and add sustainability and to create community especially when and children. As well as displaced people. Im looking forward to bringing more people in that area of success. Thank you ambassador. Thank you very much mr. Chairman. Thank you for your testimony. We had a chance to talk. You expressed a lot of concern about the willing genocide, our state department has not made a genocide determination. Theyve decided not to act. Would you push, as you are the investor, the state department to make a genocide determination . Thank you senator. I know we both share these concerns of the treatment its an excusable. It is ethnic cleansing. I trust in the fact that we do now have someone that is going to find and to investigate into really keep close, all of their findings and hopes of bringing the military commanders and hopes of having some sort of the judicial system there, i think it is and portent that we assess and make certain that bangladesh, that they also are in need and as theyve taken in all of these refugees. Theres a lot we could examine in this but im asking, will you push for the state department to complete the genocide determination . We are pushing to your since this genocide occurred. Senator, this is not the decision for me to make its a decision that is made within the state department , im looking forward to more conversation with the u. S. Reduce share and the reply. I can assure you, i will be a voice on behalf of them. Thank you. Across the world , the Un Population fund has been a critical factor that needs help. We have decided not to fund this as a nation. This is hugely effective. Our concerns have been about china and the reproductive rights issues that have been checked out manymany times and we found china has completely changed their policies. Would you support the u. S. Enhancing Womens Health around the world by advocating for the Un Population fund . Senator, thank you, as you know and i know, we strongly believe, its nice to hear that maybe theres a different view on this now, the Chinese State institutions were providing, actually bearing the varying coercive and providing abortions. We placed that within the usaid. As you well know, the United States, we are leaders in the organization throughout the un in promoting the help and well being of mothers and children, prenatal and postnatal and voluntary family planning. If its correct theres been proof that the chinese have not been engaged, we will look forward to this discussion. So the Governmental Panel on Climate Change found that pollution is responsible for a host of impacts. More forest fires. Affecting our its great for pine needles terrible for pine trees. The president said of that report, i dont believe it. Do you believe it . Senator, ive not seen that report. I could tell you that we have issues around the world and underdeveloped nations where we had flooding and drought as well as different areas that have been attributed to Climate Change. So that was a believe it answer . Ive not read that report. If you dont mind, the opportunity, i will be able to read it and answer you in writing. Do you believe the core understanding that pollution contributes to Climate Change . I believe Climate Change needs to be addressed and i believe the fossil fuels play a role in treating to Climate Change. Alliance Resource Partners , which your family owns, lobbied the epa temperament policies that benefit polluting industries at the cost of clean water and air and u. S. Leadership fund climate. If confirmed, will you go to new york representing the interests of our country and will you advocate for us to continue to support the commitments we made under the paris climate agreement . Senator, if confirmed, i will be in full compliance of our ethics agreement. As you well know, we could be a leader , we are leaders without being a member of the paris climate agreement. Within that agreement, we are already establishing success without being part of the paris climate agreement with our innovation, technology, weve had a 14 reduction in emissions since 20052017, while at the same time, our economy has been robust. We are essentially on track, as you described, why does this benefit us in terms of International Leadership to exit the agreement . Weve had great flexibility and we are on track, what does this benefit america to step out of the role of partnering with other countries . To hold them accountable . You know senator, we will hold people accountable whether we are in agreement or not. I think what is proof, the steps we have taken forward to balance our economy and our environment. I think when other countries see that you can do this, that our economy has grown while at the same time taking care of our environment, that is how we show leadership. My time is up, thank you. Thank you mr. Chairman and thank you ambassador for being here today. Youre willing to serve in canada where he worked on usmc a and now for your nomination to the next job which would be the u. S. Ambassador to the United Nations. This is a huge. I have a couple of follow up questions. One is, with regard to usmc a, could you tell us what you think of that agreement . You are involved i know on the canadian side and getting them to make concessions specifically on the day program and broadening the market access. What you think about the usmc a . Thank you senator for the opportunity to talk about the usmc a. Im still the ambassador to canada and engaged. Absolutely first of all, the canadians are as fierce negotiators as the americans. We learned that very quickly. As we discussed, i am a granddaughter of tobacco farmers, and i understand the importance of the emotional aspect when it relates to the agriculture chapter relates to the agriculture chapter 3 of u. S. Mca and was really able to able to speak to the ambassador and the president to relay the message we need to be more understanding of the emotional toilet was taking at the moment on the canadians when they had to go back to their quarterback area and speak with dairy farmers. This is an Election Year for Prime Minister trudeau and it was a very emotional topic for them and i think its really important and it was very successful and it listed the doubt in the minds of americans and canadians. They were able to feel very secure and confident with their purchases if they had Small Businesses or mediumsized businesses that they would be in supported by usmca. So you support the agreement in its final form that was negotiated absolutely, yes i do. Moving on to the issue of boycotts and legislation, as you know weve introduced a resolution that now has over half of the senate supporting and 58 cosponsors and simply says that these efforts should not be supported because they legitimize israel in a form of discrimination and we have another bill that we introduced last year that also has a lot of support but we havent reintroduced it until we could have this broader discussion. And, we have looked closely at what the Human Rights Council has done and what theyve said with regards to israel and you know we talked about this earlier. They apparently put together a black list of companies and they levy sanctions against u. S. Companies that do business there we havent seen that yet, its not come out yet but we have a deep concern about it. So i would ask you a couple questions, do agree its wrong for israel to be on the permanent agenda and how could this impede the Peace Process covered you feel the efforts against israel are contrary to the efforts we are trying to make in the region to have a negotiated agreement between these two parties im sure they are being cautious working with us to protect the names of businesses in israel and outside of israel to protect , theres no place to release american or any other businesses that could be harmed by a list being released if confirmed there would be no stronger ally than kelly kraft, there is no room anywhere for antiisrael bias or antisemitism. With the strength of this committee, i am certain that we can defeat any areas whether at the Human Rights Council bringing up antiisrael bias in every opportunity they have alo any race in the un, theres no place for that. We really need to stress to israel and promote them that they are the best motors themselves and they need to be promoted to push themselves and normalize within the un system because they have a lot to offer. We look forward to working with you should you be confirmed which i think you would be and senator cardinal and i would like to move forward with the legislation soon to ensure that we dont have that blacklist ever be published because as you said it would have a negative impact on a lot of these things including the Peace Process between israel and the palestinians. Human trafficking, you been involved in this and carolina and theres an office of gun control in the center for International Crime prevention which has response ability for addressing trafficking. If confirmed would you pledge to make Human Trafficking and sex trafficking a part of your agenda and work to strengthen this quest senator, absolutely, anywhere within the un system where theres a human rights abuse, Human Trafficking affects everyone. I give you my word that i will be a strong advocate combating Human Trafficking in any human rights abuses thank you and good luck. Thank you mr. Chair and i want to gradually to the ambassador on her nomination and thank her for her hospitality to many of us visited the halifax security and pick up on your last comment that youll be a strong advocate for human rights in the un system and i appreciated the aspect of our oneonone discussion. I just wanted to ask you about the news of today, just to the news of today. In january, agnes, mara was appointed the next repertoire on extrajudicial summary or arbitrary executions. She announced she would be leading an investigation into the assassination of saudi citizen virginia resident and Jamaal Khashoggi. The report came out today. It is damning but unfortunately, not surprising because it mirrors the cias conclusions. Its the conclusion that mr. Khashoggi has been the victim of a deliberate premeditated execution and extrajudicial killing for which the state of saudi arabia is responsible under International Human i rights law. I would like to introduce the un report into the record if i may. You may. This finds six violations of International Law, prohibition of deprivation of life, the prohibition against extraterritorial use of force, the requirement that states use Consular Missions for official purposes, the prohibition against torture, the prohibition against enforced disappearance and in killing a journalist, violation and protection of the freedom of expression. The special repertoire determine there was special evidence warranting further investigation of highlevel saudi officials individual liability in in the crown prince and finally calling upon the Human Rights Council, Security Council and the un secretary general to conduct followup criminal investigations to determine individual liability she found liability by the state of saudi arabia but suggest that needs to be individual liability determinations as well. Do you believe there should be accountabilityio for the assassination of Jamaal Khashoggi because its a criminal offense and a violation of International Law . Senator, we made it very clear with saudi arabia, that, any human rights abuse is not okay, they must change this behavior. I want to ask specifically about khashoggi because this will be in your wheelhouse because theres a request to you and but to the Security Council so let me state it again as i did. You believe there should be accountability for the assassination of Jamaal Khashoggi . I believe that where this investigation will take us we will follow and yes, anyone who is responsible, we identified the 17 that were responsible for this heinous crime. The report dramatically challenges that the 17 are responsible actually says higher visuals are responsible but i encourage you to take a look at it. Im encouraged by a portion of your statement that there should be accountability. Second, should the United States encourage accountability, abstain from request or accountability or block requests for accountability. We should definitely always request accountability. Would you agree with me that the accountability for this crime in violation of principles of human rights law, should the accountability be placed on whoevers shoulders is in fact responsible regardless of the title they may hold . I believe the accountability is going to be a decision that i have faith in in the investigative process and i have full face in the special repertoire. No one should be immune for accountability if they were involved in a crime of this magnitude, would you agree with . We will follow where the investigation takes us and i can guarantee you the state department and authorities are investigating. There is a question i know the answer to but i will ask you for the record, can you foresee any circumstance under which the u. S. Would plan the execution and dismemberment of United States citizen for example the u. S. Consulate in montrial . Senator, we are not that sort of a country. So youd agree with me that that would be so contrary to American Values and so contrary to International Morality that there would never be a circumstance under which the u. S. Could plan or tolerate the execution of an american citizen that the u. S. Consulate in montrial, you agree with me on that . Absolutely. As a member of the Security Council, this is been put into the court of the Security Council in the u. S. Will be the head of the Security Council come december. Human rights will be one of your priorities, can you give me a commitment that the United States with you representing it , as head of the Security Council, will do Everything Possible to make sure that the investigations called for here and the accountability that would fall upon such investigations are actively pursued by this country . Absolutely. I give you my word on this, we know there is an investigation and we will follow the investigation where it takes us. Thank you mister chairman. Welcome ambassador its great to see you again. Thank you for being here. I hear about this a lot in wyoming and you may as well have issues of american ideals and standards and sovereignty within the un, this is a big issue that continues to come up at home and it would to just ask you a little bit about how you would preserve and protect our american sovereignty within the United Nations, and your commitment to challenge the actions of these to the contrary and beliefs that we hold and we care about and comment on in the United States alues we hold very close. You know, peace and security, equal rights, human rights, supporting social economic humanitarian issues. I agree that there are critics that say we are not strong on those values. I agree with that and if confirmed, there will be an area that i will take with me and demand from all of the 192 Member States that we go back and we look at those founding principles in the un charter and we really try to use that as a guideline because getting the right thing as it is listed in those four, there is no compromise, and it doesnt matter how many years since its been founded, doing the right thing with peace in th and the , human rights, equal rights, you cant go wrong. Should we vote based on the constitution, based on your conscience clearly, your constituents come in your country, and i have concerns about the un, we here a hear ite time as well as at home in terms of our usw standards not necessarily being met at the un and. As confirmed i would be a great steward of our american taxpayer dollars. I just want to share with you that im a Firm Believer in the United Nations. This may be the only stage for some countries to be able to cry out for help, we are leader and we are always the first to be there to help and we will always be the first, we have to allow the un as a healthy platform thats less fortunate to be able to reach out. I was just reminded there were two individuals, refugees and he introduced as the ambassador to canada and the nominee and the young woman who is part of a group in protecting women and their rights and making certain no one is being abused in this area she just held onto me and said thank you. Thank you because i know you will help me. I will give you my word that we will go back to the four founding values because you cannot compromise human rights and equality. We share those concerns ambassador, nikki haley has commented on the and just asked about the whole issue of sexual x location end abuse and i know youve just outlined there but we seen it with un peacekeepers in the past and people who are supposed to be there providing a peacekeeping role in taking unfair, undue advantage of people in a wrong way against our values so how can the un addressed the abuse and the misconduct of the un peacekeepers more effectively, anything sessions on that . Thank you senator, thats a conversation i had with Ambassador Haley and i believe that where she was very strong on the peacekeeper in truth is is i understand that the renewal is six months to one year. We need to make certain they have the tools to protect the people they need to be protecting. We also need to make certain that if there is sexual expectation, that they are immediately sent back to their country we are in constant communication with our mission in their home country and, most importantly that we make very were to their government that we expect them to investigate and if they are found guilty to prosecute within their own system in make sure they are never back out in the field protecting innocent civilians. Thank you and congratulations again on your nomination. Thank you, senator expect mister chairman, my congratulations, you will be President Trumps ambassador to the United Nations, not mine or anyone elses so that your job is to represent the administration, do you agree with that . Thank you senator, i will be representing the United States of america and every person that lives here and every american that lives abroad. So whose policies will you advocate . The policies of the administration. Thats the point, not everyone in the country is in the administration. This is how i look at things, i usually vote qualified nominees knowing the policies they will be advocating in a Democratic Administration i dont agree with by any reasonable measure the ambassador of canada, if youre qualified and not crazy usually get my vote you dont seem to be crazy at all except for coming up here may be i appreciate you are willing to serve the country. Youve got to understand that the policies that you will be asked to advocate for sometimes all of us will disagree and the testament is are you capable of representing our country with dignity and intellect, yes. Absolutely. I have sharp elbows expect i believe that, i believe the president will get good sound advice, maybe something he wont want to hear but its up to him to make the call on Climate Change. The paris accords, basically, china and india if they task aspirational not binding i dont blame trump for getting out of the agreement it was the one sided. You agree no matter what we do in the United States if china and india dont their game it doesnt matter . I strongly believe in the fact that the u. S. Has become a leader china and india affected they admit more carbon than he did . I understand at the moment, yes they do and i also understand that while they did commit to the Paris Agreement as you well know they read the agreement but didnt commit to much. So, i believe Climate Change is real but if you dont have an agreement make it real for the people who cause more of the problem than we do. India. Let me just say this. I introduced him a couple years ago in washington when they gave an award to john mccain for his help to the kingdom over the years. I have many friends in saudi arabia, ive been there of lunch, usually with senator mccain and it breaks my heart that we are we are. The kingdom is a strategic ally and many friends are one in the country to be better but i personally feel betrayed. I feel like the actions that have placed mr. Khashoggi showed a last of respect for the relationship to the United States. Who was in their right mind would put us in this box. We deal with bad people all the time, we dont was stolen in world war ii but when the war was over we didnt embrace communist. Theres no amount of oil coming out of saudi arabia no threat from iran that will get me to back off. So i just want every strategic burner to know that there is a price to be paid to get in our orbit. He did it. It would not have happened without him. He knew it was going to happen, he wanted it to happen, he caused it to happen and this is just the tip of the iceberg of other things going on in this kingdom. So, to my friends in saudi arabia, you have lost me. You have got no one to blame but yourself. If you want a normal relationship with United States, try to act normally. What is going on in saudi arabia is not normal. Some teenagers facing being executed because he tweeted or something, its just crazy stuff. Putting the lebanese Prime Minister under house arrest its just nuts. So if you want things to get better in saudi arabia, you need to deal with it and we will fight hard to push back. So, after this report is issued, i want you to let me know whether you believe he did it, you dont have to answer now. Finally the war, do you believe we are at war . The United States . Senator what i believe is that we are showing strong deterrence. Who are we trying to deter . We need to think about iran and their corrosive behavior. What is the big thing in the war, radical islam and the world . Do agree with that or not . You believe that we are at war with radical islam then many forms. Yes. Isis, iran sheila the budget of this administration reduce the state department budget, the budget of the state department was reduced by 20 something were spent ready when the war without investing in the lives of others . Ive been to iraq 54 times and if you think you can kill yourself out of this mess you dont know what youre talking about so how do you take soft power off the table and win what is an ideological struggle . Do you agree with me that the most devastating thing we can do to radical islam is build a small school house in a remote region educating a young girl and give her a better hope for life that will do more damage than a bomb dropped on their heads . These are humans. These are people. And why did we reduce our budget by 20 . Were asking for people to step up and show this burden. We stepped down, is the world safe enough for us to step down . No sir, we are Leaders Within the United Nations and leaders around the world. Johnson . Thank you. Chairman and ambassador craft, welcome and i sure my congratulations and apologize for not being here sooner. We held a market where we passed an important piece of legislation that would end government shutdowns, just put aside a path and a deterrent for members to make sure that there are members to pass appropriations bills. Thats why im late. Im assuming, based on the meeting yesterday, we put the issue well behind us. So, the points i wanted to make, i find it interesting that you were a delegate to the un assembly and i was honored three times to represent the senate. I hope to be one in the future, potentially under your ambassadorship. The point i would like to make is as many problems as we have in the un and there are many, its a pretty Important Forum for World Leaders to get together to discuss their issues, i understand respect to and i found that the opportunity is very valuable to put together highlevel meetings in a very efficient time period so as ambassador i would ask that you utilize that to set up meetings so we can understand the perspectives of World Leaders. That is why the un is so important especially during General Assembly, we celebrate freedom of expression and i think that is why everybody will be there and have the freedom to a press and freedom to meet with one another and its important to have some of these facetoface oneonone to understand better their needs and issues. I want to talk a little about Climate Change. The un is far from perfect but there are things that it does and things that we need to do and we need to do them well. From my standpoint the un is trying to alleviate human suffering and we talked about Climate Change and we talked about potentially alleviating human suffering caused by weather the effects of potential Climate Change and the climate is always changing. Are you familiar with the copenhagen consensus . Senator, he is a friend of ours. Good. He completely believes in manmade Climate Change. I may be a bit more skeptical in terms of mans total impact but, he also understands that there are limited resources. If the goal is to alleviate human suffering, there are far better ways of spending limited human resources, for example, digging wells, killing mosquitoes to prevent malaria. So, i guess i would ask you in your position as human ambassador to take a look at priorities and recognize we have limited resources and do everything we can to help the un reform itself so it concentrates on those things that are most effect efficiency wise and effect to alleviating human suffering. Yes sir, you have my word and thats why its so important that dont not only as a steward of the american taxpayer, i feel responsible for the countries that are also contributing because we want them to see success and we want them to have skin in the game and when they feel successful and like they are part of success in making a difference in the hundreds of thousands of lives that are desperate, we will have, i hope more and more countries on board and if not for the un, all of the organizations and the fact that we are the leaders, where would all of these people be i am a strong believer in knowing that we in use the un for American Leadership this is our platform to release stress to other countries to that but, we need you. This is about Human Dignity and i will be a huge advocate for transparency and making certain that our dollars are not spent in the un system but spent in the field help in the very people desperate for humanitarian aid. I appreciate that, i came to express support for your nomination and thank you for your past services and for help in to negotiate what i think is an important trade deal and thank you for your willingness to serve in the future capacity. Thank you, senator. Hello. Ambassador, im so grateful for your past service as well and excited that you are prepared to take on this new role. I wanted to ask you, theres been a lot in the news about recent events with the ron in the gulf, do you believe current Legal Authority exists for the United States to go to war with iran . Thank you senator and thank you for the time to meet. I believe we need to show deterrence. If you look at iran and their corrosive behavior, their behavior has not changed which has been very apparent by the recent actions. We have to really be concerned about their participation in yemen. They are continuing to supply military intervention and we have a crisis with hundreds of thousands of people starving and with our Strategic Partner in the middle east, saudi arabia and their lead coalition in yemen, this has helped the World Food Program with access to hundreds of thousands of people you have iran propping up the aside regime and turning a blind eye. Iran is a bad actor , a leading state sponsor of terror, let me interject because my time is somewhat limited. So, yes, we absolutely need to show deterrence vis vis iran and we need to deal with the worst humanitarian basis ands the late 50s in china which is in yemen as you correctly pointed out. We need to work with partners and allies to ensure that iran doesnt continue its adventure and dangerous behavior, putting servicemembers, assets in the Global Economy but, do you believe we have the Legal Authority to go to war with iran. The constitution says that Congress Declares war and theres an existing authorization for the use of military force and my own belief is that before the United States were to go to war with iran, congress would have to be briefed about the justification for that and congress would need to vote on that matter. Thank you senator for raising this particular issue. I understand that when we have an imminent threat the president makes this decision but if not that i also understand the importance of consulting with congress when it comes to something as important as this decision. Absent an imminent threat you agree that a vote by congress would be required to authorize . Yes, i agree we need to be consulting with congress. This is an important decision that affect the lives of not just americans but a lot of innocent people. I would like the consultation to be followed up for the record with the vote by congress under article 1 of the constitution. We look forward to working with the state department and National Security advisor in the president and others. The United States is underrepresented among nationals that something weve been briefed on, how do you plan to address this if you are confirmed . Thank you senator, we need to highlight the successes of the areas where we are represented by americans that whether its unicef, the world to unicef with governor beasley, we just had someone appointed to investigate and gather and keep the information with the refugees which is so vitally important. I feel very confident in knowing that when we have an american and we can show that there is Greater Transparency which provides accountability and obvious the more effect that throughout the un system and this is an issue that i will bring up, we are up her representative resented and i understand that with the percentage of our contribution level, we are nowhere near having the americans in the cyst. We need to be very cognitive of the fact that china is placing individual hires throughout the system and thats a real issue. So you understand my concern. Yes i do. That is linked to my concern about the u. S. Withdrawal from certain un organizations that is coinciding with chinese expansion in the multilateral fora. I dont disagree with withdrawal from the Human Rights Council, theres only so long that you can remain a member of the organization when you have gross violators of human rights who call themselves members to try to affect change so it the right decision. I also have concerns and theres a little tension here that china is now shaping the worlds human rights and other agendas with this particular viewpoint through this very organization. So how can the united date effectively challenge chinas view of human rights and challenge the rival Economic System at the United Nations . Thank you, senator. Obviously that something we discussed in your office and its really important. China is the second largest contributor now at the un and we are still the leader and will be we have to keep in mind that because of the economy because we now have step it up as the second largest contributor, they also have ulterior motives and have leverage within the un system and within the 192 Member States, especially the underdeveloped countries. They are taking their builtin Road Initiative and i understand that we cannot match that dollar for dollar and thank you to everyone here for the build back. I think its really important we focus on areas where we can negate china and underdeveloped countries with our build act and Public Private partnerships and leading people with sustainability, not with predatory lending. I understand your concern and share your concerns and if confirmed i will most certainly develop the relationships within the un body to make certain smaller countries understand that we are here for you and we are here to help you with longevity to build communities and china is not. Well, i am chairman of the multilateral and fusion sub huron Foreign Relations so i will have oversight over all of these matters and i look forward to supporting you in your effort and working together so that we can create a broader and deeper coalition and then apply collective leverage against chinas predatory economic practices. Against gross human rights violators so we dont normalize the Human Rights Violations that others might attempt so thank you, once again for your past service and interest in serving and i look forward to our work together. Thank you senator. Let me just say for the record i supported your nomination i dont support everybody who comes before the committee but i supported expediting your nomination for a Business Committee meeting and i supported your nomination on the floor of the United States senate. So even though you are a political appointee it meant nothing to me so i hold no ill will. My job is to vet every candidate that comes before so in that spirit let me take my line of questioning further. Theres an old adage that if you have facts on your side you argue the facts and if you have a law on your side you argue the law and if you have neither the facts or the law you bang on the table and create a diversion. Senator cruise is a very good lawyer of the problem with his line of questioning is that the state Department Tells us that the 300 days that i have questioned you about was reported as 300 days outside of canada it did not include travel inside of canada. So, that line of questioning, to suggest that a good part of that is you are traveling in canada and you should be traveling in canada for the 300 days was travel outside of canada and not because i say it because the state Department Says it. So, i look at that and i see that the negotiations were completed at the end of september 2018. Yet, as you can see from the chart, your absence seems to increase in frequency after the time of the negotiations being completed, how do you explain that . Senator, while we may have reached the deadline of september 30 2018 for usmca that there were many more conversations we were having to iron out issues that we agreed upon that last hour on september 30 that we would continue to speak about. I can tell you now that i did not enjoy living out of a suitcase. We had finally made our residence in ottawa home just in time that i had to pack up eggs and go back and forth but i took my oath of office very seriously and understand that im available 24 seven. Let me ask you and in pursuit of that im sure you didnt enjoy living out of a suitcase but there were five rounds of negotiations that occurred after you became ambassador in october 2017. Yet, it appears from the summary provided by the state department that you only attended one of those five rounds. No, the rounds that occurred in washington were continuous, i did attend the round in montrial did you attend all five rounds of negotiations . No sir i did not i attended the rounds in montrial. This is why we need the information. This is a global stage you are going to be on canada is a really important assignment. There is no more important position i can think of than the u. S. Ambassador to the United Nations. As someone who has practiced Foreign Policy for 27 years, this is important to me and thats why am pursuing this. The first thing is you need to be there so i need to understand that better and i hope that we can get to the point that we do. I have final questions on substance. You said in response to senator graham asking about iraq and so you will follow the president s policy. I understand that but trump is made a whole host of disc urging comments about un Member States and entreaties referred to the canadian by minister, Justin Trudeau is very dishonest and we he taught called europe a total mess and said germany is a capital of russia, do you agree with the statement . Senator, the president has his own way of communicating. I can assure you that my relationships that i will build, if confirmed at the un i understand im painfully aware of the president s way of communicating the question is did you agree with those statements, yes or no . This is a gotcha question. You are going to be at the United Nations. You are going to be on the Security Council at the General Assembly with a whole host of the countries and you will have to work through these things. So, if theres a simple thing that you could say that i dont personally believe that, its a challenge right . I can assure you that i will be speaking to everyone with the utmost respect and representing the United States. Let me ask you, if youre confirmed with the United States you will not use your post as ambassador to the United Nations to provide diplomatic protections for saudi arabia but use your voice and your vote to raise concerns about the conduct of the study coalition in yemen, to press for accountability on the brutal murder of Jamaal Khashoggi, to end the fact that the saudis used child soldiers . Senator, i can give you my word that i dont care who it is , what country it is, if there is a human rights abuse i will most certainly shine the light, call them out, however you want to put it. You can guarantee that i will be the first they are to say that this has to stop. I appreciate that but specifically as to my question to the saudis, will you use your voice and your vote in these instances to stand up for what you are telling me more globally, you will use your voice and your vote to stand up to express the concerns others a huge humanitarian catastrophe going on in yemen. There is clearly the murder of a journalist that needs to be addressed. There is clearly the use of child soldiers which i know in your heart as a mother, you cant even believe is something that should be used so would you use your voice and your vote in that regard . Senator i would use my voice when saudi arabia commits Human Rights Violations, you Better Believe i will use my voice. I look forward to responses to my questions and may be a followup, you have mentioned very well by the way the question of humanitarian issues. And, when you share the same story that you shared previously with me about the first time you met anybody from the with senator gardner, what is the role, we had the greatest this iceman since will or two people in the world, over 70 Million People displaced because they need violence, oppression, persecution, do you believe theres a rule we should be playing as it relates to dealing with the challenge . Dealing with the rohingya challenge specifically . Rohingya but beyond, 70 Million People are displaced who are in essence refugees. What is the role you would advocate what should we be doing and leading on . Senator, i understand the emotions because i feel the same way about the issue and as we discussed in your office i cannot fathom from looking at these children what it must be like for a mother to feel the desk to have to leave their country or worse, put an innocent child in the hands of a human smuggler thinking they will go to the promised land. That is why its so important at the u. S. That we be very vigilant with our humanitarian aid that we demand transparency because as you know our dollars have to be spent wisely, these are people and we have to remember they are people, they are not just refugees, migrants or immigrants, they are people. I can pledge to you that i will use everything in my power to make certain that the u. S. Is always the first on the ground in the last to leave. I appreciate that. I would just say to you that it would be helpful if you are confirmed, your advocacy and one other thing that should be doing his bidding, we have the lowest level in our nations history of accepting the refugees. We cant lead at the un and advocate for other countries to do what we fail to do ourselves. So this is a challenge that you will find at many different moments. How you work your way through that challenge will be incredibly important as to how successful you can be on behalf of the united sates of america and i look forward to some of the answers to the questions im proposing in writing. Thank you very much. Thank you senator menendez and ambassador kraft, thank you very much youve been very patient with all of us and i appreciate your testimony. The record will remain open until the close of business on thursday and with that, this meeting is adjourned. [inaudible conversations] in 1979 a School Network with an unusual name mold at a big idea to let viewers make up their own minds, cspan open their eyes for all to see bringing you unfiltered content from congress and beyond. A lot has changed in four years but today that big idea is more relevant than ever on television and online, cspan is your unfiltered view of government so you can make up your own mind. A Public Service by your cable or satellite provider. American history tv sunday when we mark the 50th anniversary of the stonewall riots, key turning point of the Gay Rights Movement starting at 8 30 am eastern live with the story from mark sign the editor of the riots and a documentary history. Calls and tweets from the National Monument in greenwich village. At 4 p. M. In america to gayrights films by pioneering filmmakers and activists leave incense. In 1968 film the second largest minority. Everyone always remembers the first, homosexual and forgets the others expect the third word in each of those rights, american citizens human beings. Followed by the 1970s film, gay and proud. How do you feel being here today . I feel fantastic. How many years have you been homosexual . I was born homosexual. Its beautiful. I was sorry to see there was not a politician here with us today. I think lindsay should have made it a point to be here today as well as possibly some of the gay Movement Organizers themselves. Watch the 50th anniversary of the stonewall riots this sunday on cspan3s American History t earlier this month the New York Times opinion writer and editor very wise