The confirmation vote for Deborah Lipstadt to serve as the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism was delayed on Tuesday after Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) objected to her nomination.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which approved 11 nominations at its March 8 meeting, postponed Lipstadt’s nomination, as well as that of Barbara Leaf to serve as assistant secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs.
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement that approving these nominees is critical.
“At a time when the United States and its allies are working to put every conceivable pressure on [Russian President Vladimir] Putin to stop his unprovoked brutal and illegal war against Ukraine, we have to have these nominees in place,” he said.
Johnson said he objected to her confirmation over a past tweet by Lipstadt that labeled one of his statements as “white supremacy.”
During her confirmation hearing in early February, Lipstadt apologized to the senator, saying, “While I may disagree with what you said specifically—and I think that’s a legitimate difference—I certainly did not mean it, and I’m sorry if it was taken and I’m sorry if I made it in a way that it could be assumed to be political.”