By David Wainer and Daniel Flatley

June 18, 2019 - Donald Trump is closer to filling a key gap on his national security team as a Senate panel this week takes up the nomination of Kelly Craft to be UN ambassador after she served as envoy to Canada during contentious trade talks.

But it won’t be easy.

Kelly Craft

Photo by Christinne Muschi, Bloomberg

Craft, a prominent donor to the president’s 2016 campaign, proved her value to Trump during contentious trade talks between Washington and Ottawa that helped pave the way for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement last year. Yet her coal industry ties and waffling on the cause of climate change will face intense scrutiny from Democrats at her confirmation hearing on Wednesday.

“Do you acknowledge that climate change caused by humans is real?” a trio of Democratic senators asked Craft in a letter ahead of Wednesday’s hearing. Their question echoed one Craft responded to -- and was criticized for -- during a 2017 interview on Canada’s CBC television network.

“I believe there are scientists on both sides that are accurate,” Craft -- whose husband Joe Craft is chief executive officer of coal producer Alliance Resource Partners LP -- said in the interview. Pressed, she added, “Well, I think that both sides have, you know, their own results from their studies, and I appreciate and respect both sides of the science.”

The vast majority of scientists say human activity is causing climate change, although Trump has at various times called it a “Chinese hoax” and said that the weather “changes both ways.”

"Somebody with that sort of backwards view on climate at the UN is dangerous but not unsurprising for this administration," said Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, a Democrat who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee that will question Craft and says he hasn’t made up his mind on how he’ll vote.

Most lawmakers are betting Craft’s nomination will survive the scrutiny, even though climate change is a prime issue on the United Nations agenda and the U.S. is the world’s second-largest emitter of heat-trapping carbon dioxide after China.

Craft is ready for tough questions on climate and is deepening her foreign policy knowledge generally, according to a person helping her prepare for the hearing who asked not to be identified. At the UN, Craft will be thrust into contentious debates over North Korea’s nuclear program, rising U.S.-Iran tensions, the Israel-Palestinian crisis and Venezuela’s meltdown.

‘Toughest Moment’

While she wasn’t a central player in crafting Trump’s overhaul of the North American Free Trade Agreement, people who followed her work in Ottawa say she was effective in quietly smoothing ties during a volatile diplomatic period as the U.S. and Canada renegotiated a key trade agreement.

“She was there during the toughest moment between our countries in recent history, and she can take pride in the fact that the most important file had a successful outcome,” said Fen Hampson, a professor of international affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa who has met with Craft. “She kept her head down and did her job at a time when the U.S. administration was not very popular in Canada, and in a sense she’s acquired thick skin for her next job.”

If she’s confirmed by the full Senate, Craft will fill a position left open since Nikki Haley stepped down as UN envoy at the end of last year. Haley, a former South Carolina governor, took the job on the promise it would be Cabinet level. She touted her direct access to Trump -- she traveled to Washington frequently to meet with him -- and, she said, spoke with him frankly but privately when she disagreed with his views.

But with U.S. foreign policy increasingly in the hands of Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and National Security Advisor John Bolton, Craft would be filling a non-Cabinet level position, so her influence is likely to be less than that of Haley, who got a rare Oval Office sendoff from Trump when she stepped down.

A lack of clout with the president could hurt Craft in high-profile battles with diplomats from adversaries like Russia and China, or with allies seeking to influence Trump.

“It means something to them when you have a direct line to the president,” said Bill Richardson, U.S. envoy to the UN in the Clinton administration. “They understand that an ambassador who can phone the president to get something done is a major asset.”

While Haley was frequently in the spotlight, telling countries that she was “taking names” of those who didn’t stand with Trump’s policies, Craft is likely to avoid such bombast while taking her cues from Pompeo, a person familiar with her thinking said.

Political Ties

Donors to presidential campaigns are often rewarded with plum ambassadorships in Rome or London or tropical islands, but Craft would be the first to get the UN role. She and her husband were early Trump backers, giving $430,800 to Trump Victory, which supported his presidential campaign and the Republican party. Joe Craft also gave $750,000 to Future45, a super PAC that supported Trump.

Beyond her experience in the Canada trade battles, Craft comes with political ties sure to help shield her nomination. She is close to senior Republican officials including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, her home state, and Vice President Mike Pence. Craft’s political connections were instrumental during her stint in Canada, said David MacNaughton, Canada’s ambassador to the U.S.

“You sensed she was really well-connected in the administration and could get things done,” MacNaughton said in an interview. “There were times during the negotiations when there was a lot of rhetoric and misunderstanding and it was really helpful to be able to talk to her when we couldn’t figure out what the U.S. was trying to achieve.”

Richard Gowan, UN director at the International Crisis Group, said those connections will come in handy during her next job and could make up for her lack of cabinet status.

“The conventional wisdom is she will have little influence,” Gowan said. “But being an influential donor means she will have the ear of important people in Washington.”