SerpApi.Org
A Senate committee voted along party lines Wednesday to advance the nominations of both Kari Lake and Doug Mastriano for diplomatic posts, despite threats from Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) to block the two high-profile nominees.
All 12 Republicans voted to advance both Lake and Mastriano, sending their nominations to the Senate floor. The 10 Democrats on the panel all voted against moving the nominees forward.
Cornyn, who sits on the committee, threatened Tuesday to sink the nominations of Lake and Mastriano for ambassadorships in Jamaica and Slovakia, respectively — unless he receives reassurance from the Trump administration that it will release funds set aside for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Cornyn said in the hearing that the White House had agreed to release some of the funding for the program, known as PEPFAR.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
PEPFAR is credited with having saved millions of lives globally before the White House slashed its funding as part of its crackdown on foreign aid.
Cornyn has been leveraging his vote in recent weeks to force the White House’s hand on various issues, following a primary defeat in May after Trump endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. The four-term senator has gotten a taste for bucking the White House, telling POLITICO, “it’s kind of fun.”
Trump tapped Lake and Mastriano for ambassadorships in May, part of a broader trend of selecting his acolytes and family members to diplomatic posts. Meanwhile, 107 of 195 total ambassador slots remain unfilled.
Both Lake and Mastriano are staunch Trump allies who waged failed gubernatorial bids in battleground states, Lake in Arizona and Mastriano in Pennsylvania.
