WASHINGTON — In April, President Donald Trump nominated Mark Walker, a former Baptist minister and congressman who had served on the House Republican leadership team, to head his administration’s efforts on global religious freedom.
“In his new role, Mark will work incredibly hard to expose Human Rights Violations, champion Faith, and help us secure Life Saving Results,” Trump wrote on Truth Social that day.
But for the past eight months, Walker’s nomination — for a noncontroversial role in the State Department — has inexplicably languished in the Senate, while many others tapped after him have already been confirmed.
A Trump administration official and two other GOP sources told NBC News there is one senator who has been working behind the scenes to derail Walker’s confirmation: Ted Budd, of his own home-state, North Carolina, who defeated Walker in a bitterly contested Republican primary for the Senate seat just three years ago.
The delay — which Walker personally told Trump about Thursday in a phone call — has infuriated Walker’s allies, who say it’s imperative that the Senate confirm him as Trump’s ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom.
The awkward dynamic between the two North Carolinians underscores the petty politics and long memories that exist on Capitol Hill, even when issues like religious persecution and human rights are involved.
“No one has more support from Cabinet members, from senators, from House members, from top leaders of faith than this nomination. Yet, for some reason, he’s not been able to get a hearing, while other people have been nominated, even as late as summer, early fall, and are already in their positions,” said a GOP source familiar with the Walker situation.
“So who’s stopping the nomination? Who is it that is preventing this ambassador position to get out there and advocate on behalf of the thousands of Christians and other religious minorities being persecuted, targeted and even killed? Why is one person playing politics on all this?” the source said, directly pointing the finger at Budd.
A lawyer in Washington who works with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee also said Budd is working to scuttle Walker’s nomination.
“It’s an open secret in Washington that Ted Budd has decided to turn a lifesaving human rights post into collateral damage of unresolved intraparty politics,” said the lawyer, who supports Walker. “Voters deserve to know the truth about the ways in which he has sought to undermine the president’s nominee for this incredibly important post over some petty political grievances. He cannot continue doing so quietly without accountability.”
A Trump administration official confirmed that Budd was the hold-up but declined to comment otherwise for this article. The GOP source and the lawyer spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.
Speaking on the record, other Walker allies aren’t directly taking aim at Budd but have insinuated he’s the reason for the holdup.
Ben Carson, who served as Housing and Urban Development secretary during Trump’s first term, said he’s gotten to know Walker through a Wednesday Bible study group of former and current Cabinet members, governors and other officials. He called the nominee a man of “tremendous character” who “brings so much knowledge of Scripture and forgiveness and cooperation.”
“I think there are a few people in the Senate who may have a grudge,” Carson said in a phone interview. Walker, he continued, “spent time in Congress, and when you do that, sometimes you have to run against other people. Sometimes people remember that you were their competitor.”
Asked by NBC News whether Budd was blocking Walker’s nomination, Budd spokesman Christian McMullen said: “Sen. Budd is not a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but if Mark Walker’s nomination advances to the floor, Sen. Budd would vote in favor of his nomination.”
Budd’s office also noted that senators cannot place a formal “hold” on a presidential nominee who hasn’t advanced out of the committee of jurisdiction.
Walker allies say that Budd is obfuscating — Walker can’t advance out of committee because Budd has worked behind the scenes to prevent a confirmation hearing from even taking place.
Trump tapped Walker on April 10 to be U.S. ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom. But a confirmation hearing in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which provides oversight of the State Department, still has not been scheduled by Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, who presided over his final confirmation hearing of the year Thursday.
That’s a significant issue for Walker because all executive branch nominations expire when the Senate adjourns at the end of each year, meaning Trump will need to renominate Walker in 2026 — if he chooses to do so.
In a brief interview in the Capitol Monday night, Risch told NBC News he stands by the statement he gave Breitbart last week that his Foreign Relations Committee 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 told the conservative news outlet.
Under Risch, 67 of Trump’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee nominees have been confirmed, the panel said, and a total of 78 nominees are expected to be confirmed by year’s end. Walker is among 25 Trump Foreign Relations nominees who will not be confirmed this year.
"I deal regularly, daily, with the White House personnel office, with the president himself ... We've confirmed dozens and dozens of people," Risch told NBC News. "And the way I do this is, I work with the president, with his priorities, the people he wants. And that moves all the time. I keep a list of it. He keeps a list of it."
Asked by a reporter Thursday about the delay as major religious holidays approach, Trump praised Walker and said he was unaware of any problems with his nomination.
“I’m hearing very good things about him,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “Look, I’ve always found him to be a high-quality person.”
In a statement, the White House said the president wants to see Walker and other nominees confirmed quickly.
“President Trump has focused on promoting religious freedom and fighting antisemitism in a historic way,” White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement. “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.”
Shortly after Trump was asked about Walker in the Oval Office, the president and Walker spoke by phone about the delay, the nominee told NBC News. Walker did not answer questions about whether Budd is responsible but said, “President Trump prioritized this post because he prioritizes religious freedom.”
“Many have reached out for help, and my being delayed from fighting for people imprisoned, tortured and killed simply for their faith, has been quite frustrating,” Walker said in a statement to NBC News.
“In talking with President Trump this past Thursday, I expressed my appreciation for his kind remarks and support he shared earlier in the evening from the Oval Office. I’m also grateful for Sen. Majority Leader [John] Thune, Cabinet members, and faith leaders across the country who’ve continued to offer their support, knowing the importance of this Ambassadorship.”
“As we continue our journey working towards confirmation, we will be relentless, speaking out for religious expression and against the atrocities on people of faith,” Walker added.
Both Budd and Walker served together in the House representing North Carolina and ran against each other in the crowded 2022 Senate primary to replace retiring Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C.
Walker had a higher profile as the former chairman of the Republican Study Committee, the largest caucus of conservatives in Congress, and as former vice chairman of the House GOP Conference. But it was Budd, a member of the far-right Freedom Caucus, who secured Trump’s endorsement — and campaign money — catapulting the little-known congressman to a primary victory over former Gov. Pat McCrory and Walker, and ultimately to the Senate.
The GOP primary got contentious, at times, with Walker accusing Budd of ducking debates, not being conservative enough and voting “against our farmers and AG producers.” But Walker would go on to endorse Budd in the general election and donate to his campaign.
Religious leaders said it’s now time to put past personal grievances aside and get Walker confirmed and in the job.
“The global state of religious persecution is at such a critical point that to delay the confirmation of the nomination further is detrimental to successful international religious freedom policy. I think it’s detrimental to the most effective U.S. foreign policy,” David Trimble, president of the nonprofit Religious Freedom Institute, said in a phone interview.
“In my opinion,” Trimble continued, “these are both good men and they both simply need to rise above the issues that may stem back to the primaries of North Carolina and move beyond those unfortunate things that transpired then.”
