UN nominee Kelly Craft to face confirmation hearing Wednesday

Kelly Craft, President Trump’s nominee to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, will face her confirmation hearing on Wednesday.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has officially scheduled Craft for 10:15 a.m., according to a press advisory issued Monday. 

Craft, currently the U.S. ambassador to Canada, would replace Nikki Haley, who resigned her post at the end of 2018. The position has remained vacant for six months. 

{mosads}Trump announced plans to nominate Craft in February after his first choice, former State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, abruptly withdrew from consideration after it was revealed she had employed a nanny who lacked proper authorization to work in the U.S. Craft was not officially nominated to the position until last month.

Craft is a Kentucky native and the wife of billionaire coal executive Joe Craft; both are influential Republican donors. She is likely to face some tough questions about her family’s business interests and her views on climate change during her confirmation hearing, as well as questions about geopolitical issues from North Korea to Iran.

Craft attracted criticism when she said it was important to believe in “both sides of the science” when asked about climate change in a 2017 interview shortly after becoming U.S. ambassador to Canada.

The Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), will vote on Craft’s nomination before it heads to the full Senate.