Title: President Biden Nominates Controversial Figure Elliott Abrams for Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy
Date: [Insert Date]
Source: CNN
President Joe Biden has made headlines by announcing his intention to nominate former Trump administration appointee Elliott Abrams to the bipartisan United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy. Abrams, who has a controversial past in Latin America, has served in three Republican administrations and most recently acted as the Trump administration’s special envoy to Iran and Venezuela.
Throughout his career, Abrams has been involved in various foreign policy matters. However, his long history in this field is marked by a guilty plea in 1991 related to the Iran-Contra affair. Abrams was found to have withheld information about the operation, which aimed to fund anti-communist rebels in Nicaragua using proceeds from weapon sales to Iran, despite a congressional ban on such funding. Although he was initially charged with two misdemeanor counts and received two years of probation and 100 hours of community service, his crimes were later pardoned by President George H.W. Bush.
In addition to his involvement in the Iran-Contra affair, Abrams has faced criticism for his handling of the El Mozote massacre in El Salvador during his tenure in the Reagan administration. Reports of the massacre, which resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,000 people, were downplayed by Abrams in a Senate testimony. His attempts to refute the number of victims and praise the military battalion responsible for the mass killings were brought to light during a 2019 House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, led by Representative Ilhan Omar. Omar used Abrams’ history in Latin America to question his credibility.
Despite these controversies, Abrams has held significant positions in previous administrations, including serving as a senior director of the National Security Council and as a deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser under President George W. Bush. Currently, Abrams is a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. He has attended prestigious educational institutions such as Harvard College, the London School of Economics, and Harvard Law School.
The United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy is a bipartisan body responsible for assessing and evaluating government activities aimed at understanding, informing, and influencing foreign publics. According to the State Department, the commission issues reports and publications to the Secretary of State, the President, and the Congress. The commission follows a rule that does not allow more than four of its seven members, appointed by the president, to be affiliated with any one political party.
The current members of the commission include Sim Farar, the managing member of JDF Investments Company; William Hybl, former special counsel to President Reagan; and Anne Terman Wedner, a political organizer and former foreign service officer. However, as of March 2023, four seats on the commission remained vacant according to the National Archives.
President Biden’s nomination of Elliott Abrams to the Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy has sparked debate and raised questions about the potential implications of his controversial past in Latin America. The confirmation process and subsequent work of the commission will undoubtedly attract significant attention and scrutiny from both politicians and the public alike.
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