Washington Free Beacon senior investigative reporter Joe Simonson joined Fox News's Brian Kilmeade Thursday to discuss his report on President Joe Biden's pick to serve as ambassador to the African Union, who twice failed the Foreign Service Officer Test and said she "couldn’t even get through the English grammar section."
"This is part of a pattern from the White House of not exactly nominating the most qualified individuals," Simonson said, adding that Republicans including Sen. J.D. Vance (Ohio) are "pumping the brakes" and refusing to rubber-stamp the Biden administration's picks for crucial positions.
It took Stephanie Sanders Sullivan three times to pass the written exam required for most career diplomats, the Free Beacon reported this week. Sullivan, whom Biden nominated last November to serve as the chief envoy to the African continent, went on to have a long diplomatic career that included stints as deputy assistant secretary for African affairs and U.S. ambassador to Ghana.
It was in the latter post where Sullivan displayed the partisan behavior that has Senate Republicans questioning her fitness for the African Union post.
"She was calling for gay rights parades in Ghana," Simonson told Kilmeade, adding that "during her 2020 Fourth of July address ... she was talking about George Floyd and structural racism."
The ambassador to the African Union will play a crucial role on Washington's efforts to rebuff Chinese influence on the continent, Simonson reported. But the administration's push to shore up alliances in Africa makes Sullivan's nomination even more curious.
"It's very difficult to understand where the Biden administration is coming from," Simonson told Kilmeade, adding that Sullivan "doesn't really seem to appreciate America very much."