{"id":1975401,"date":"2023-07-17T17:09:02","date_gmt":"2023-07-17T21:09:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/blinken-accuses-sen-paul-of-obstruction-harming-national-security-with-confirmation-delays-for-diplomats\/"},"modified":"2023-07-17T17:10:44","modified_gmt":"2023-07-17T21:10:44","slug":"blinken-accuses-sen-paul-of-obstruction-harming-national-security-with-confirmation-delays-for-diplomats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/blinken-accuses-sen-paul-of-obstruction-harming-national-security-with-confirmation-delays-for-diplomats\/","title":{"rendered":"Blinken blames Sen. Paul for obstructing diplomats&#8217; confirmation, harming national security."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fblinken-accuses-sen-paul-of-obstruction-harming-national-security-with-confirmation-delays-for-diplomats%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1975401&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"post_content\">\n<p>WASHINGTON\u2014The\u200b United \u2063States\u2019 top diplomat is\u200d accusing \u2064a\u200d Republican \u2064senator of obstruction following refusals\u200c to \u200cconfirm\u2064 dozens of\u2062 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/will-the-gop-establishment-enable-another-disastrous-iran-nuclear-deal\/\" title=\"Will The GOP Establishment Enable Another Disastrous Iran Nuclear Deal?\">diplomatic appointments<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>  \u200d<\/p>\n<p>Sen. Rand \u2064Paul \u2064(R-Ky.)\u200b has\u200b been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/blinken-accuses-sen-paul-of-obstruction-harming-national-security-with-confirmation-delays-for-diplomats\/\" title=\"Blinken blames Sen. Paul for obstructing diplomats' confirmation, harming national security.\">requesting documents related<\/a> to\u2064 COVID-19 for years \u200bover\u2062 concerns \u200bthat U.S.-funded\u2063 \u201cgain\u200d of function\u201d experiments\u2063 in Wuhan, China, might have \u200bcontributed to\u2064 the creation of \u200dthe virus.<\/p>\n<p>\u200c  <\/p>\n<p>Mr. Paul \u2063effectively \u2064<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/sen-rand-paul-blocking-biden-nominees-until-covid-19-documents-released_5307261.html\">put a \u2063hold<\/a> on \u2063the confirmation\u200d of all State Department\u200d nominees in\u2064 June, making \u200btheir confirmation dependent \u2062on \u2064the \u2064State Department\u2019s compliance\u200d with his \u2064demands\u200b for more \u2064documentation regarding \u200cthe origins of\u200b COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p> \u2063 \u200c<\/p>\n<p>Those \u2063confirmation\u200b delays are unnecessarily \u2063creating\u200b a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/immigration-expert-blasts-biden-admin-over-claims-on-border-crisis-an-offense-to-human-intelligence\/\" title=\"Immigration Expert Blasts Biden Admin Over Claims On Border Crisis: \u2018An Offense To Human Intelligence\u2019\">national security crisis<\/a>,\u200c according\u200b to \u2064Secretary \u200dof State \u200cAntony Blinken.<\/p>\n<p>\u200b  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese delays \u200bare weakening our national security, and they\u2019re weakening our ability to\u2063 deliver\u2062 for\u2063 the American people,\u201d <strong>Mr. \u200cBlinken<\/strong>\u200b said during a \u2062July\u2063 17 press briefing.<\/p>\n<p> \u200b\u2064 <\/p>\n<p>The \u200dsecretary said that the confirmation of 62 nominees was \u2063stalled in the Senate, \u200dwith\u2063 38 \u2062actively awaiting confirmation \u2064on the floor, \u206335 \u200bof\u2063 whom \u200bare career Foreign Service\u2062 officers.<\/p>\n<p> \u2063 \u2063<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s a\u200c problem,\u2064 <strong>Mr. Blinken<\/strong> said, as several nations will soon be without U.S. ambassadors\u200d to pursue American\u2062 interests abroad.<\/p>\n<p> \u200d \u200d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat \u2064number \u2062is going to\u2062 keep \u2064going up\u2026 By the\u2064 end\u2064 of this summer, we expect\u200d Egypt,\u200b Israel, Jordan, and\u2063 Lebanon will all\u2063 be without confirmed\u200c U.S. ambassadors,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>  \u200c<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStop harming our national security\u2063 through \u2063unjustified \u200cdelay and \u200bunprecedented obstruction,\u201d <strong>Mr. \u2064Blinken<\/strong> added as a message \u200bto \u2063<strong>Mr.\u2064 Rand<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p> \u2064 <\/p>\n<h2><b>State \u200bDepartment Denies It Has COVID Documents<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>  \u200c<\/p>\n<p>Both <strong>Mr.\u200c Blinken<\/strong> and State Department \u200cSpokesperson\u200c Matthew Miller claimed \u200bthat <strong>Mr. \u200dPaul<\/strong> was\u200b withholding diplomatic \u2063nominations for reasons unrelated to \u200dState \u200dDepartment business \u2062and out of the\u200d department\u2019s\u2064 control.<\/p>\n<p>\u2064  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cSenator Paul has a\u200b blanket hold \u2064on our nominee,\u201d <strong>Mr. Blinken<\/strong> said.<\/p>\n<p>\u2062  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnfortunately, he \u200bcontinues \u200bto \u200cblock all of our \u200bnominees.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> \u2064 \u2062<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mr.\u200c Miller<\/strong> \u2063added that\u2063 the\u200c State Department \u2062had provided the records in its \u200bpossession\u200c that had been requested but said most \u200bof <strong>Mr. Paul\u2019s<\/strong> requests\u2062 were for documents \u2064that\u2062 are not now and never have \u200dbeen \u200bin the Department\u2019s possession.<\/p>\n<p> \u2062\u200b <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2062 will continue to\u2062 provide \u200cdocuments that \u2063[are] responsive\u2062 to \u2062[Paul\u2019s] requests,\u201d \u200b<strong>Mr.\u200c Miller<\/strong> said, \u2062\u201cbut\u2063 he is \u200dasking us for documents that are not State Department \u2063documents \u200dand\u200c are documents \u200dthat we cannot \u200cprovide because \u200cthey \u2064are not in \u200cour possession, but he continues to \u2063use that as \u200ban\u200b excuse to hold up State Department nominees\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSenator Paul can make\u200d legitimate \u2064requests for\u2064 information, \u200bbut \u200bhe cannot\u200b hold up the nominations\u2063 of career \u200bdiplomats who \u2064are critical to advancing U.S.\u200b interests and national\u200d security,\u201d <strong>Mr. Blinken<\/strong> \u2063added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The US Secretary of State accuses a GOP senator of obstruction for refusing to confirm numerous diplomatic appointments. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has long sought COVID-19 related documents, expressing concerns that US-funded experiments in Wuhan, China, may have played a role in the virus&#8217;s origin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":228,"featured_media":1975402,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1975401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/228"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1975401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1975402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1975401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1975401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1975401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}