Washington, DC — Leo Brent Bozell III, President Trump’s nominee to be ambassador to South Africa faced largely favorable questioning from Republicans and vigorous grilling from Democrats during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday
In opening remarks, the Committee chairman, Republican Jim Risch (Idaho), said the U.S.–South Africa relationship is at a crossroads. “We must decide whether it can be salvaged or whether to treat the South African government as it has treated us: like an adversary.” Risch called on the nominee, if he’s confirmed for the post, to “engage with the government to advance U.S. interests and challenge the status quo that is bad for South Africans and America’s relationships with South Africa.”
“Its corruption is robbing the South African people, its leaders pick fights with Washington, and its deepening ties with Iran, China, and Russia come at the expense of our allies, like Taiwan and Israel,” Risch said.
In her opening remarks, the ranking Democrat on the committee, Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire) took issue with “this Administration’s view that South Africa has committed genocide against white Afrikaners,” an attack she said “only helps spread anti-American sentiment and promotes China and makes our country less safe.”
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Bozell, founder of the conservative Media Research Center, in his prepared remarks told Senators “I come from a family devoted to public service,” mentioning two uncles – William F. Buckley Jr – “the intellectual leader of the modern conservative movement” and James L. Buckley who served as Undersecretary of State, federal judge and U.S. Senator from New York.
“The President has expressed serious concerns about South Africa that for too long have been unaddressed,” he said in his opening statement. He pledged “respect for the South African people” and promised to “communicate our objections to South Africa’s geostrategic drift from non-alignment toward our competitors, including Russia, China and Iran” and to “press South Africa to end proceedings against Israel before the International Court of Justice.”
He also express support for the President’s call for South Africa “to rescind its support for the expropriation of private property without compensation” and advance President Trump’s “invitation to Afrikaners who wish to flee unjust racial discrimination.”
In response to persistent questioning from Democrats about the administration’s immigration policy favoring the admission of Afrikaans-speaking white South Africans, he said: “I am here to serve America and to do what the president is asking me to do.”
Defending the nominee, Republican Mike Lee (Utah) said “Mr. Bozell has spent his entire life defending truth and exemplifying the values of our great nation. His life’s work has shaped the media landscape in a favorable way, in a way reflecting his unwavering commitment to free speech to individual liberty, and private enterprise.”
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