The Donald Trump administration’s long-delayed pick to serve as the top US diplomat overseeing the Middle East is finally set to move forward, Senate aides told Al-Monitor.
David Schenker, nominated as assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs more than a year ago, is expected to be voted out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at its next meeting following the two-week congressional recess. Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat serving on the panel, had been holding Schenker up since September in an unsuccessful bid to force the Trump administration to release a secret legal memo justifying US cruise missile strikes against Syria over its use of chemical weapons.
