Before being nominated to be  U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia earlier this week, Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) pointed to his experience serving as a military diplomatic liaison to Saudi Arabia to offer strident criticisms of the U.S. ally.

The past comments could prove to be an issue in his confirmation process, or lead to a frosty reception if he is confirmed, a prospect that currently appears uncertain.

As previously reported by Jewish Insider, in 2022, Hunt suggested that he did not view Saudi Arabia as a “true ally” and highlighted the Saudi heritage of many involved in the 9/11 attacks.

“I learned a lot about what our interests need to be and who we need to be in the business of supporting for the future, because [Israel is] our one true ally in the region,” Hunt said during a virtual event with AIPAC.

He added that the U.S. “cannot let our guard down” with Middle East partners generally because “some of these countries are bad actors. They’re rogue nations, some of them.”

During his failed Senate campaign, Hunt — along with many other Texas Republicans — made his opposition to Islamic Sharia law a central element of his campaign, repeatedly pointing to his own experience in Saudi Arabia and Iraq as an example of its dangers.

“People who dismiss Sharia law as fear-mongering have never lived under it,” Hunt said. “I lived in Saudi Arabia. I lived in Iraq. I’ve seen what that system looks like in real life, not on cable news. Public beheadings happened there not long ago. Women couldn’t even drive when I was stationed there.”

Hunt also said, of Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), “He’s been soft on this because he’s never faced what I’ve seen. He’s never stood face-to-face with evil in its purest form. He’s never witnessed the public beheadings, the brutal treatment of women, or the barbaric enforcement of Sharia law.” 

He said that Sharia law “should be banned in America” and joined the Sharia-Free America Caucus, warning that Sharia law is on the rise in America, though no U.S. jurisdiction enforces the Muslim legal code.

Other U.S. officials have historically been critical of Saudi Arabia’s restrictive laws for women and other elements of the country’s judicial system, which have since been loosened.

Also during the Senate campaign, Hunt said he had not felt safe, during his time living in Saudi Arabia, from jihadi sympathizers following the killing of Osama bin Laden.

“These are our allies that we are working with every single day, and we were actually fearful of our lives,” Hunt said at the time. “Now, imagine letting people, with that mindset, come to our country, and you wonder why we are waking up to having dead national guardsmen … the mentality of these people never ended. It never stops.
The jihad never ends. We are the infidel.”

Semafor reported on Thursday that some Republican senators harbor concerns about Hunt’s nomination and are unlikely to allow it to move forward quickly.