White House withdrew Joel Rayburn's nomination for key State Department post

The White House withdrew the nomination of Joel Rayburn as assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs within the State Department. During his confirmation hearing, the diplomat was questioned about his past in the first Trump administration, in which he served as U.S. special envoy for Syria.

Rayburn, a West Point military academy graduate with experience as an artillery and intelligence officer in the Army, had been nominated by Donald Trump in February. In May, he faced a tough Senate confirmation hearing, where Rand Paul (R-KY) and Democrats asked him whether he had been involved in concealing the actual number of U.S. troops in Syria.

By mid-October, the Upper House Foreign Affairs Committee had advanced his nomination, albeit sadly, without recommendation. This occurs when the nominee in question does not have the necessary endorsements within the committee for formal approval, but the leadership chooses not to block it altogether.

"We voted on it last week with no recommendation," Senator Paul told Axios.

James Jeffrey, who was Rayburn's boss, testified in 2020 that his team was "always playing shell games to not make clear to our leadership how many troops we had there."

During his confirmation hearing, Rayburn was confronted about these statements, which he described as "inaccurate."I think that was a very unfortunate comment by Ambassador Jeffrey. As a State Department person, we had no role in reporting troop numbers to the president," he told Paul.

After the hearing was over, the Kentucky senator expressed concern about Rayburn's integrity. "His evasiveness raises serious concerns. We need leaders who prioritize transparency and America First—not more endless wars," he wrote on X.

According to a report by Newsweek and Wake Up To Politics, the White House withdrew nearly 50 nominations since January.