WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) wrote to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) Friday, informing them of their hold on the nomination of K.T. McFarland to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Singapore.
“Ms. McFarland may have provided information to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that conflicts with recent media reports regarding her knowledge and involvement in matters pertaining to contacts during the Trump Presidential Transition between former National Security Adviser General Michael Flynn and Russia’s Ambassador to the United States Sergei Kislyak, among other matters,” the Senators wrote. “Therefore, we are placing a hold on her nomination and we urge you not to seek cloture on her nomination until Ms. McFarland publicly clarifies these matters.”
Senators Cardin and Booker are members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where Cardin serves as the ranking member.
The full text of the Senators’ letter follows and is available here:
Dear Majority Leader McConnell and Minority Leader Schumer:
We write regarding the nomination of K.T. McFarland to serve as the United States Ambassador to Singapore.
As you are aware, Ms. McFarland may have provided information to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that conflicts with recent media reports regarding her knowledge and involvement in matters pertaining to contacts during the Trump Presidential Transition between former National Security Adviser General Michael Flynn and Russia’s Ambassador to the United States Sergei Kislyak, among other matters.
Before the Senate takes any further action on her nomination, we believe that it is critical that she provide us with a complete record and accounting of these matters, and that she be fully responsive to any additional questions that Members may have. Without a complete record, it is impossible for the Senate to be properly informed or to responsibly discharge its constitutional duties to provide advice and consent on presidential nominations.
Therefore, we are placing a hold on her nomination and we urge you not to seek cloture on her nomination until Ms. McFarland publicly clarifies these matters.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. We would welcome the opportunity to speak with you both further.
###