Sen. Bob Menendez praised United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley on Tuesday for bringing “moral clarity” to the UN, and told a prospective State Department official that he needs to bring that same moral clarity on the issue of human rights.
“We need someone who has the moral clarity that Nikki Haley has,” the New Jersey Democrat said in a confirmation hearing for John Sullivan to be deputy secretary of state. “I voted for her even though I didn’t think she had a lot of foreign policy experience, or any.”
“I’m not sure I would have hired her for my senior foreign policy person,” he added. But I think she’s outstanding. But she has moral clarity, and that moral clarity can ultimately drive us in the right direction.”
“And I hope you have that moral clarity as the number two person at the State Department,” he said.
Menendez added that he was worried about recent comments from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who told State Department employees that the U.S. cannot always condition U.S. relations on the extent to which other countries adhere to U.S. values.
“If we condition too heavily that others must adopt this value that we’ve come to over a long history of our own, it really creates obstacles to our ability to advance our national security interests, our economic interests,” Tillerson said.
That prompted Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to warn that Tillerson’s approach was a “dangerous” signal to send to human rights violators around the world, and Menendez agreed.
“Most of us who pay attention to foreign policy recognize that leading with our values, including prioritizing human rights in our diplomacy, is a critical part of promoting our national security,” he said. “So I’m really concerned about Secretary Tillerson’s comments.”
Haley has won praise for her tough stance against Russia at the UN, but reports said the State Department wants to review her comments before she makes them in the future.
