President Donald Trump wants the U.S. Senate to confirm his nominee for the Religious Freedom ambassador, former Rep. Mark Walker (R-NC), and his other nominees as soon as possible.
In a statement to Breitbart News, the White House emphasized President Donald Trump’s desire to see Walker move through the confirmation process quickly.
“President Trump has focused on promoting religious freedom and fighting antisemitism in a historic way. He wants all of his nominees confirmed as quickly as possible, including Mark Walker, whose role will be critically important to protecting Americans of faith,” White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) Chair Jim Risch (R-ID), who has not given Walker a confirmation hearing since his nomination eight months ago, claimed to Breitbart News that Walker’s confirmation was not a priority of the White House. That claim is contradicted by Kelly’s comment to Breitbart News on Thursday.
He also suggested that Walker lacks the votes to get confirmed. However, sources familiar with the matter told Breitbart News that Walker would likely receive unanimous support from the committee if there were a vote. Moreover, Walker is expected to garner unanimous support from Senate Republicans if he passes committee, with perhaps the exception of Sen. Tedd Budd (R-NC)–meaning Walker is thought to receive anywhere from 52-53 votes and be confirmed if the Senate begins to move on the process, per sources.
“SFRC processes nominations in consultation with the priority given by the White House and we move those that have the votes. This nomination does not fit in either category,” Risch said in a statement.
On Tuesday, Pastor Andrew Brunson, who was held in a Turkish prison for two years before Trump secured his release in his first term, penned a letter to Risch pushing for a confirmation hearing for Walker on Thursday, which did not materialize. Brunson detailed the vital reasons for Walker’s swift confirmation:
Today, however, I am compelled to raise an urgent alarm: the global persecution of Christians is worsening at an alarming rate. In country after country — Nigeria, Nicaragua, China, Iran, Pakistan, North Korea, and many others — believers are being imprisoned, tortured, displaced, and killed solely because they follow Jesus Christ. Open Doors now estimates that over 380 million Christians live under high or extreme levels of persecution. This is not a marginal issue; it is one of the greatest human-rights crises of our time.
For this reason, the position of Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom is not a ceremonial or secondary post — it is a vital instrument of American leadership and moral clarity. The Trump administration has nominated Rep. Mark Walker, a former pastor with a proven commitment to defending persecuted believers, to fill this role. Yet, to my knowledge, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has not scheduled a confirmation hearing for Rep. Mark Walker, even though the 119th Congress is rapidly drawing to a close.
Pastor Andrew Brunson by Breitbart News
Brunson added that without the ambassador-at-large confirmed, the United States is without “its most visible and authoritative voice speaking up for imprisoned pastors in Nicaragua, for villages burned in Nigeria, for house-church leaders disappeared in China, and for the countless others whose only crime is their faith in Jesus Christ. “
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