Congress Kelly Craft absent from post for over 300 days, records show The U.N. ambassador nominee committed to Sen. Menendez that she'd provide complete records of all the times she left her post as U.S. ambassador to Canada.

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Kelly Craft was absent from her post for more than 300 days during her tenure in Ottawa, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's top Democrat said today during Craft's confirmation hearing to become the American envoy to the U.N.

The disclosure comes days after POLITICO reported about questions surrounding the frequency of Craft's travel outside of Canada. Craft has served for about 600 days since she formally took over the ambassador post in late October 2017, so she was out of the country for at least half the time she has served, based on the State Department records.


Craft committed to Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) that she'd provide complete records of all the times she left her post. But Menendez said there were "discrepancies" in information she had turned over to him before the hearing.

Menendez said the records, which he illustrated on charts of calendars with days absent from her post highlighted in red, show trips listed as official travel, although some of them occurred while Craft was back in Kentucky. There also appears to be additional travel not reflected in the record, he said, based on social media posts.

From March 21 through May 13, Menendez said, Craft was absent from her post 45 out of 54 days.

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Craft said she never traveled without requesting State Department approval in advance.

“The bottom line is, without the full record, we can’t evaluate it," Menendez said.

Craft later said that much of her travel was related to USMCA negotiations, which often brought her to the U.S. Trade Representative's Office in Washington, as well as for promoting the deal across the U.S.

"This was not a time to socialize," she said. "This was a time to work.”

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) also raised concerns about her lack of presence in Canada, saying that the U.N. ambassador post requires even more attentiveness. "New York is even harder,“ Coons said.

Coons added that if the documentation backs up that she was traveling on trade and other matters, he would accept that explanation.

GOP Sens. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) came to Craft's defense, arguing that ambassadors are expected to travel within the country and that stakes were high during USMCA negotiations.

“I don’t know where she was, but where it was was in the best interest of the United States of America, I can tell you that," Isakson said.

Cruz contended that some of the travel on Menendez's chart represents travel to cities like Montreal and Toronto, suggesting questions about Craft's travel don't withstand scrutiny.

But Menendez later corrected Cruz, saying that the 300 days were times she travel outside of Canada, according to the records that the State Department provided. He also noted that many of the travel dates occurred after negotiations on the new USMCA deal wrapped up on Sept. 30.

Craft explained that there were still continuing talks in Washington and elsewhere she had to attend. “There were many more conversations we were having to iron out issues,” she replied. “I did not enjoy living out of a suitcase.”

Menendez added that he considered the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. to be the second most-important post on foreign policy after secretary of State.

“This is a global stage you’re going to be on,” Menendez told Craft. “There are huge global issues."

Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Jim Risch (R-Idaho) said Wednesday that he wants to quickly schedule a markup to move her nomination out of committee and to the Senate floor.

After the hearing, Menendez said he wouldn't agree to a markup on Craft until he received more documentation about her absences from Canada. Under standard practice, committee leaders from both parties typically agree to an agenda before scheduling a hearing or markup.

But Risch said he thought Craft did "spectacularly well" during her confirmation hearing.

"They didn't pitch her a ball she couldn't hit, and I was very impressed with her command of the wide, wide range of issues," he said.