Trump nominee stalls after GOP senator challenges him on remarks about Jews and Israel

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's pick for a top State Department post faces bipartisan opposition after a Republican senator pressed the nominee over his past remarks about Israel and the Holocaust.

Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, came out against Jeremy Carl's nomination to be assistant secretary of state for international organizations after Thursday's confirmation hearing, where he challenged Carl on comments he made as recently as 2024.

“After reviewing his record and participating in today’s hearing, I do not believe that Jeremy Carl is the right person to represent our nation’s best interests in international forums, and I find his anti-Israel views and insensitive remarks about the Jewish people unbecoming of the position for which he has been nominated," Curtis said in a statement.

Carl told NBC News in a statement responding to Curtis’ opposition that he is still “confident the majority of Senators will see through these political games and support my confirmation to the Department of State, as President Trump intends.”

“It’s never pleasant to be falsely accused, but I’m grateful for the continued support of the White House,” he added.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Curtis’ statement.

Curtis’ opposition essentially brings Carl's nomination to a standstill. Republicans have a 12-10 majority on the Foreign Relations Committee, meaning any GOP vote against him leaves the nomination in an 11-11 tie and prevents it from advancing to the full Senate for a confirmation vote.

During one exchange, Curtis asked about Carl's response to a podcast host's question in 2024.

“He said that the state of Israel is not a victim but instead a perpetrator. And said, how long are you going to rest on the Holocaust? Because based on how you are treating the Palestinians now. That was the host, but this was your response: ‘Right, right. Yeah, no, I mean, I think that’s true,’” Curtis said.

Carl is a senior fellow at the Claremont Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington. He was deputy assistant interior secretary during Trump’s first term.

The State Department post he was nominated for involves implementing U.S. policy at the United Nations and other multilateral organizations.

In a separate exchange Thursday, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., asked Carl “how you define white identity and what you think is being erased about white identity.”

“I am concerned with the majority common American culture that we had for some time, that through, particularly, mass immigration I think has become much more balkanized, and I think that weakens us. And again, I’m not running away from that comment,” Carl said as part of his response.

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Murphy later posted a clip of the exchange on social media and called Carl a “legit white nationalist.”

The Claremont Institute did not respond to a request for comment Thursday night.

A CNN KFile investigation last year found that Carl had deleted thousands of social media posts ahead of his nomination but that many inflammatory ones focusing on race and religion were still retrievable.

Carl's confirmation hearing came a day after a member of Trump's Religious Liberty Commission, Carrie Prejean Boller, was ousted over remarks she made about antisemitism and Israel.