Ahead of Confirmation Vote, Kaine Statement on Dangerous Set of Nominations, Including William White to be Ambassador to Belgium

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC), released the following statement ahead of an expected Senate vote on a block of 107 nominees that includes William White, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be Ambassador to Belgium:

“Bill White is the perfect example of why it’s dangerous that Senate Republicans just changed the Senate’s rules to bury Donald Trump’s horrible nominees in long lists and rush them through without proper debate. Someone who fell for a baseless election conspiracy and then called my Republican colleague a ‘snake’ and Georgia’s Secretary of State a ‘MOTHER EFFER’ who should be ‘locked up’ clearly does not have the temperament of an effective diplomat. But even more egregious is White’s platforming of a person convicted of white nationalism and Holocaust denial in Belgium. In the Senate, we all talk about the need to stamp out antisemitism. Now is an opportunity to turn talk into action.”

White has repeatedly amplified posts of a convicted Belgian white nationalist influencer and Holocaust denier and voiced support for election conspiracy theories. Senator Kaine has repeatedly raised his serious concerns about White’s nomination, including in a speech on the Senate floor earlier this week. In July, during an SFRC hearing about the White nomination, Kaine pressed him over his concerning social media use.

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