Ben Black, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, had his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday. 

Black will serve as chief executive officer of the DFC, which acts as the federal government’s primary lender and investor in development projects abroad, if confirmed. The DFC was created during the first Trump administration, the result of merging the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the Development Credit Authority of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Black was introduced at the start of the hearing by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), who described Black in opening remarks as a “true America First patriot” who “will bring a wide range of experience and expertise to this job.”

“I’m here today to offer my full support for Mr. Black’s nomination to serve in this position.  Created during the first Trump administration, the International Development Finance Corporation facilitates overseas investment projects that better position us to compete with Communist China’s global infrastructure pursuits,” Cotton said.

“This position requires a person with expertise in strategic investment opportunities, an understanding of America’s foreign policy priorities, and tested leadership capabilities. For these reasons, I am confident that President Trump made the right choice in selecting Mr. Black for the job,” he continued.

Black said during his opening statement that if confirmed, “I look forward to working with Congress to shape and to continue to grow DFC’s capabilities and capacity, so that it can properly fulfill the responsibilities it has been given. The challenges facing our nation and the world today can seem overwhelming, but the opportunity for DFC to be part of meaningful solutions is enormous.”

Black is a managing director of Fortinbras Enterprises, a credit investment fund, and CEO and director of Osiris Acquisition Corp, another investment firm. He was a term member at the Council on Foreign Relations from 2015 to 2020. Black previously worked at Apollo Global Management, the firm founded by his father, Leon Black, and was a senior portfolio manager at Knowledge Universe Holdings.

Black is an alumni of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School. He also studied taxation at the New York University School of Law and received his BA in history from the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated with honors. 

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee delayed an anticipated vote on Thursday on Joel Rayburn’s nomination to be assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs as he faces opposition from Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), which could imperil his nomination.

The news is another setback for Middle East hawks who saw Rayburn, who held a series of national security positions in the first Trump administration, as more aligned with their worldview, as compared to the isolationists populating many senior roles throughout the administration.

Thursday’s delay came because an unidentified member exercised a prerogative to delay the vote on Rayburn until the committee’s next business meeting, which would still allow the committee to vote on him in the near future. But Rayburn may face bigger problems: If no Democrats support Rayburn, the vote on his nomination would be tied, meaning it cannot advance out of committee.

It’s not clear whether any Democrats will support him. At that point, Rayburn’s nomination could still be advanced through a full Senate floor vote, assuming a sufficient number of other Republicans support the nominee.

Paul told Jewish Insider that he was primarily concerned that Rayburn was involved in a deliberate effort in the Trump administration to obscure the U.S. troop presence in Syria from Trump and disobey orders to withdraw U.S. forces.

“My concern is that James Jeffrey directly disobeyed direction from President Trump. Said he was hiding the numbers of troop levels over there, and Rayburn worked for him at the time, and still remains close to him,” Paul said, referring to the then-U.S. envoy to the global counter-ISIS coalition. “I don’t know how that could have happened without him knowing about it, and I think we need people at the State Department who will follow the direction of the president.”

Paul said he had not been the senator who requested a delay in the committee vote on Rayburn.

Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on Wednesday in remarks at the Hudson Institute that he’s skeptical that Iran would agree to a deal to dismantle its nuclear program.

Risch said that he is “not particularly optimistic” that a deal with Iran that stops it from enriching uranium can be reached, while adding that if Iran does not agree to a deal, “Israel is going to do something about that.”

“I’ve sat across the table from [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, I don’t know how many times, and he has looked me in the eye and said, ‘Iran will not have a nuclear weapon,’” the top Senate Republican said. “And you know what? I believe him, and I think that’s a case for the United States to be in the exact same position.”

He called Iran a “failing country right now,” and said that the U.S. should be continuing to ratchet up sanctions on Iran and those purchasing Iranian oil. If Iran were eliminated as a threat, he continued, that would also effectively eliminate the other major bad actors in the region, Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, as Iran’s proxies.

“They’re all Iran. They’re all proxies of Iran. If Iran was gone, the three Hs would be gone,” Risch said. “So we’re down to one bad actor, really, in the region.”

Addressing the push for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Risch said that Israel needs to destroy Hamas completely, and that any deal that allows it to continue existing will only set up another war down the road. And he said that Arab states are privately hoping that Israel is successful in incapacitating Hamas and its Muslim Brotherhood affiliates.

Risch described Syria and Lebanon as “keystones in a peaceful and prosperous Middle East,” both of which, he said, are poised for change and progress.

He expressed support for the administration’s decision to waive sanctions on Syria but warned that “we need to proceed with caution,” given Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s jihadist past.

“There are conditions that I believe must be met” by Syria and the administration should consider reimposing sanctions if they are not, he continued, including full cooperation against ISIS, eliminating Syria’s chemical weapons stores, expelling Russian and Iranian influence from the country, dismantling the Assad regime’s drug empire and accounting for missing and detained Americans.

Risch said he was initially nervous about al-Sharaa when he took control of Syria, but said, in his defense, that al-Sharaa’s terrorist activity was “a long time ago,” that al-Sharaa had cut ties with terrorist groups “knowing full well what they were and what they stood for” and that the sorts of atrocities and violence that Western leaders have worried about occurring in post-Assad Syria largely have not.

He said he believes that al-Sharaa was not involved in the “one incident” — seemingly referring to a massacre targeting the Alawite religious minority — that has taken place since he took power.

“I think the guy needs to be given a chance, particularly when he is saying what he’s saying, doing what he’s doing,” Risch said. At the same time, the committee chair also acknowledged that Israel does not share his view of al-Sharaa.

Risch downplayed the recent U.S. military pullback from Syria, emphasizing that the U.S. remains committed to the fight against ISIS and is concentrating its remaining resources in the region where ISIS has the strongest presence.

Risch said he’s “skeptical of Turkey” as a “result of my dealings with [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan directly.” He warned that the Turkish antagonism toward the Kurds “could be a really, really serious problem” in Syria, which has “enough problems as it is,” and said he is “very cautious” about Turkey maintaining influence inside Syria.

He framed the new Lebanese government as that country’s “best opportunity” but emphasized that it has a long way to go to implement reforms, solve financial issues, eliminate corruption and root out Hezbollah. He said both the Lebanese president and Parliament speaker have “shown great potential over the years.”

“Any hesitancy to meet the threats posed by Hezbollah would be deeply troubling and force the United States to reevaluate providing much needed support for the [Lebanese] military,” Risch continued.

Pushing back on some in the Republican Party who have argued that the U.S. must pull back from the Middle East and other foreign engagements to focus resources on the Indo-Pacific and the home front, Risch said that he’s concerned about the U.S. national debt, but emphasized that fiscal responsibility does not require abandoning U.S. allies.

“We have relationships around the world that are just as important to us for our national security as [are] our military operations. We need friends,” Risch said. “There are a lot of people around the world that share our values and share our view of what life should be for human beings, and we need to maintain that.”

He added that the U.S. should “prize” its global reputation, and warned that abandoning allies like Ukraine would show weakness to China and other adversaries, and ultimately kick off a global nuclear arms race.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced Gov. Mike Huckabee’s nomination to be U.S. ambassador to Israel on a party-line vote on Wednesday, committee chair Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) said.

The vote, which took place about a week after Huckabee’s confirmation hearing, suggests that Huckabee is likely to see minimal Democratic support when he comes to the Senate floor in the coming weeks, although Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) has said he’s likely to support Huckabee.

“With the passage of these three qualified nominees, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has now approved the nomination of 10 of President Trump’s national security nominees,” Risch said in a statement. “We will do all we can to keep up this quick pace to ensure President Trump and Secretary Rubio have the support they need. I urge my colleagues to confirm these qualified nominees when they come to the Senate floor.”

Huckabee’s past comments opposing a two-state solution, supporting Israeli annexation of the West Bank and denying the existence of Palestinians, among others, have made him controversial even among some of the most pro-Israel Democrats in the Senate.

“We need an ambassador to Israel that strengthens the relationship between our two nations while making sure our support for our democratic ally remains bipartisan,” Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), a member of the committee said in a statement. 

“While I appreciate Governor Huckabee’s deep commitment to Israel’s security, I have grave concerns about his support for fully annexing the West Bank, and I have serious doubts about his ability to ensure that support for Israel remains bipartisan and doesn’t become a political football,” Rosen continued. “For these reasons, I opposed his nomination as U.S. Ambassador to Israel. However, if he is confirmed, I am committed to developing a relationship with Governor Huckabee and working with him to maintain a strong U.S.-Israel relationship.”

The nomination has also divided Jewish community groups.

Huckabee’s confirmation vote may be on track to echo the confirmation of the former Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, President Donald Trump’s pick in his first term, who received just two Democratic votes in support in 2017 amid similar concerns from most Democrats.

Some committee Democrats initially attempted to delay or prevent a vote on Huckabee’s nomination until Thursday, but were blocked by Republicans.