Blinken Accuses Sen. Paul of Obstruction, Harming National Security With Confirmation Delays for Diplomats

WASHINGTON—The United States’ top diplomat is accusing a Republican senator of obstruction following refusals to confirm dozens of diplomatic appointments.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has been requesting documents related to COVID-19 for years over concerns that U.S.-funded “gain of function” experiments in Wuhan, China, might have contributed to the creation of the virus.

Mr. Paul effectively put a hold on the confirmation of all State Department nominees in June, making their confirmation dependent on the State Department’s compliance with his demands for more documentation regarding the origins of COVID-19.

Those confirmation delays are unnecessarily creating a national security crisis, according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“These delays are weakening our national security, and they’re weakening our ability to deliver for the American people,” Mr. Blinken said during a July 17 press briefing.

The secretary said that the confirmation of 62 nominees was stalled in the Senate, with 38 actively awaiting confirmation on the floor, 35 of whom are career Foreign Service officers.

That’s a problem, Mr. Blinken said, as several nations will soon be without U.S. ambassadors to pursue American interests abroad.

“That number is going to keep going up… By the end of this summer, we expect Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Lebanon will all be without confirmed U.S. ambassadors,” he said.

“Stop harming our national security through unjustified delay and unprecedented obstruction,” Mr. Blinken added as a message to Mr. Rand.

State Department Denies It Has COVID Documents

Both Mr. Blinken and State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller claimed that Mr. Paul was withholding diplomatic nominations for reasons unrelated to State Department business and out of the department’s control.

“Senator Paul has a blanket hold on our nominee,” Mr. Blinken said.

“Unfortunately, he continues to block all of our nominees.”

Mr. Miller added that the State Department had provided the records in its possession that had been requested but said most of Mr. Paul’s requests were for documents that are not now and never have been in the Department’s possession.

“We will continue to provide documents that [are] responsive to [Paul’s] requests,” Mr. Miller said, “but he is asking us for documents that are not State Department documents and are documents that we cannot provide because they are not in our possession, but he continues to use that as an excuse to hold up State Department nominees…

“Senator Paul can make legitimate requests of the State Department and of others in the administration. What we object to is him holding hostage nominees who are career foreign service officers who have served in Republican and Democratic administrations alike.”

State Blames Paul for Growing Diplomatic Backlog

Though Mr. Blinken appeared to suggest that Mr. Paul was responsible for the soon-to-be vacant ambassadorships in Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Lebanon, Mr. Miller confirmed that the White House has not actually nominated diplomats for all those posts, including the position of the ambassador for Israel.

Nevertheless, Mr. Miller said, any nominations the administration put forward are likely to be postponed indefinitely until Mr. Paul chooses to stop his apparent protest.

“If you look at the situation as it exists currently, all the nominees that start today are still backlogged based on what’s happening on the floor,” Mr. Miller said.

Mr. Blinken said that only five nominees for the Foreign Service had been confirmed during the Biden administration, all of which were pushed through by Democrats via time-consuming floor votes rather than simple majority roll calls.

The lack of high-profile diplomats, Mr. Blinken said, would harm the interests of American companies working in those countries as well as U.S. citizens living abroad and tourists.

Moreover, he said, the issue was a worldwide one.

“Ambassadorships are open in Asia, in Europe, in Latin America, as nominees await confirmation,” Mr. Blinken said.

“Not having an ambassador in a given country makes us less effective at advancing our policy priorities.”

Mr. Blinken added that he believed the nation’s adversaries would be the only ones to profit from the current situation and urged Mr. Paul not to let the situation “become the new normal.”

“No one is questioning the qualifications of these career diplomats. They’re being blocked as leverage for other unrelated issues,” Mr. Blinken said.

“It’s [irresponsible] and it’s doing harm to our national security.”

The Epoch Times has requested comment from Mr. Paul.