Trump UN pick donated to GOP members on Senate Foreign Relations panel

President Trump’s nominee for ambassador to the United Nations has donated to several Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which is preparing to grill her as part of her expected nomination process, according to Politico.

Kelly Craft, the current U.S. ambassador to Canada, was nominated by Trump in February to take over for Nikki Haley as the U.S.’s top envoy to the U.N. She or her husband have donated to at least half of the Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations panel, Politico reported.

She donated $2,700 each, the maximum allowable amount, to the election campaigns of Sens. Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) in 2016, as well as giving $5,400 to Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) primary and general Senate election campaign the same year, according to the article.

{mosads}Craft and her husband Joe, a coal magnate, both also supported Rubio’s 2016 presidential campaign and fundraised for Trump’s campaign after Rubio exited the race.

Joe Craft also donated $2,700 to the 2018 campaign of Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who has since been named to the committee and each donated the maximum of $5,000 to his presidential campaign in 2011 and 2012, according to Politico.

While donors receiving ambassadorships is not unusual, with President Obama appointing major fundraisers as ambassadors to Canada twice, Craft’s financial ties to the senators who will vote on her nomination is less typical.

If “there’s a big campaign, a) you want Kelly running your stuff in Kentucky and b) in terms of national players, they are some of the biggest,” former Bush administration official Scott Jennings told the publication. “She’s just somebody who knows how to meet people and make friends and bring people together, and I think that skill has been a hallmark of her career.”

The couple has long been active in Kentucky Republican politics, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) reportedly convinced Trump to nominate Craft for the position.