60 personal days and the equivalent of seven months at home...

Kelly Craft was out of Canada for half her days as ambassador

Trump U.N. nominee’s absences included 60 personal days and the equivalent of seven months in places where she had homes, Democrats say.

By LAUREN GARDNER

President Donald Trump’s nominee to be ambassador to the United Nations, Kelly Craft, spent the equivalent of seven months of her 20-month tenure as U.S. ambassador to Canada back in the United States in places where she had homes, according to findings by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Democratic staff.

The minority staff’s findings are drawn from previously undisclosed documents provided by the State Department and Craft to the full committee following a June 19 hearing.

During the hearing, Craft came under fire for her frequent absences from the embassy in Ottawa, after POLITICO obtained Federal Aviation Administration records showing her family plane had made the equivalent of weekly roundtrips to the United States.

The issue of her absences took on greater significance because Craft, a political appointee with close ties to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, lacked the extensive diplomatic or political experience typical of a U.N. nominee.

Druing her confirmation hearing, Craft attributed much of her travel back to the United States to the demands of negotiating and promoting a revamped North American free trade pact. But Democrats found that only about 40 days of the 356 total days she spent partially or wholly outside of Canada were for trade negotiations. Moreover, the minority staff found that she had claimed 60 personal days away from the job.

“Being the U.N. ambassador is a global stage, and Ambassador Craft lacks the experience,” said the committee’s ranking member, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.). “She did not have the time at post that she should have had, which is essential, and at the end of the day there’s a whole host of other issues, so we will vet those all out when her nomination vote takes place on Thursday.”

Suzanne Wrasse, a spokesperson for committee Chairman Jim Risch (R-Idaho), disputed some of the Democrats’ characterizations of Craft’s absences and indicated that the ambassador’s nomination is likely to advance from the committee, which has a 12-10 GOP majority, to the full Senate.

Risch and his staff have reviewed the information provided by the State Department, Wrasse said, and were not troubled by Craft’s absences from her job.

“Canadians at the highest levels remain impressed with Ambassador Craft’s accomplishments in support of the U.S.-Canada relationship, and there is no question that she made a positive impact during her tenure as ambassador,” Wrasse said.

However, Canadian elected officials have told POLITICO that Craft kept a lower profile than previous ambassadors and often missed diplomatic events because of her extensive travel.

“I’ve had some discussion with members on both sides of the aisle. I think this is a problem for a lot of us,” Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) said, referring to her absences.

“I think it’s difficult — her absentee from the post, unrelated to her duties as ambassador — is very difficult to support her under those circumstances,” Cardin added. “I’m going to listen to Senator Menendez and the other members of our committee, both Democrats and Republicans, as we go to a debate on her. I think we should vote on her — we have all the information we need.”

Democratic staff found that Craft — who hails from Lexington, Ky., and in 2016, married Joe Craft, a coal magnate from Tulsa, Okla. — spent all or part of 210 days, or a third of her time as ambassador to Canada, in either Kentucky or Oklahoma over the course of 43 trips. Half of those days were work days.

Committee Republicans, however, say their tally differs. By their count, Craft spent 194 days total — both working and non-working days — in Kentucky and Oklahoma over the same period. Ninety-two were workdays and include annual leave and sick leave days, plus days where Craft worked remotely. The remaining 102 non-workdays were largely U.S. and Canadian holidays and weekends, they said.

At the time of her confirmation hearing, the State Department said that all of Craft’s absences were approved by department officials. However, Democratic committee staff say, records provided to the committee show Craft spent at least part of 11 days outside of Canada without State Department approval. That includes one three-day Kentucky trip and “repeated unapproved extensions of existing travel” to that state or to Oklahoma.

Republicans attribute some of the lack of approvals to administrative errors. They say seven of those unapproved days were when Craft delayed by a day returning to Ottawa after an approved weekend away. At least one extension came at the White House’s request, they said. Three of those extensions were improperly submitted due to administrative errors, and one was filed on a federal holiday, they said.

Another three out of the 11 days were requested for approval, but the response cable didn’t come through, Republicans said, and the State Department didn’t reprimand the ambassador over the issues. Another one of those days was due to inclement weather on the planned date of departure, they said.

The State Department knew where Craft was “at all times,” the Republicans said.

Craft also took 60 personal days outside of Canada, according to the Democrats’ findings.

Republicans said their count showed that Craft used 39 personal days, and didn’t exceed the 26-day limit for diplomatic personnel on leave in any calendar year.

In total, Craft spent part or all of 356 days outside of Canada during her tenure, which amounts to more than 56 percent of her time on the job, Democrats say. (Republicans say their count was 323.)

The investigation focused on the time from when she presented her credentials in Ottawa on Oct. 23, 2017, until June 16, three days before she testified on Capitol Hill regarding her latest nomination.

Committee minority staff also found that Craft involved her husband, the chief executive officer of Alliance Resource Partners, the third-largest coal company in the country, in discussions with government officials on energy and environment matters.

Joe Craft connected the ambassador to EPA officials to help her track down an information request from the Canadian government and was included on subsequent emails about the issue, as previously reported by The Associated Press.

While Craft has maintained that her husband “plays no role whatsoever in official U.S. government business,” the Democratic findings say she "has not definitively answered whether her spouse was included on any official State Department communications involving energy or environment matters."

Joe Craft also attended meetings on those issues with U.S. and Canadian government officials, along with Kelly Craft in her official capacity as ambassador, according to the Democrats’ findings.

Committee Republicans said Joe Craft’s appearances at events with the ambassador were in his personal capacity as her husband, reflecting the traditional role of diplomatic spouses “regardless of gender or background.”

Democrats say Craft also used her personal email "on at least a few occasions" to conduct government business, a possible violation of federal recordkeeping laws. She didn't provide copies of all of those exchanges, they said, though she confirmed using personal email to the committee.

Emails released under the Freedom of Information Act regarding the Crafts’ communications with the EPA show use of her personal email address for official work.

Republicans said Craft acknowledged using personal email at times during her early days as ambassador because of “recurring problems” with her department-issued phone. Any instances where she didn’t copy her State Department email address were unintentional, Republicans said.