Trump’s nominee for Hostage Affairs envoy faces scrutiny on controversial Russia plan

President Trump is tapping his charismatic, straight-talking former lawyer, who has helped free hundreds of political prisoners from Belarus, to serve as the U.S. official charged with bringing home unjustly detained Americans abroad. 

John Coale, who serves as special envoy to Belarus, has detailed “vodka infused” negotiations with that country’s authoritarian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, to establish a back channel to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the release of high-profile political dissidents in the country. Coale’s diplomacy has included providing Lukashenko access to popular GLP-1 weight loss medication, as well as sanctions relief. 

Trump nominated Coale for Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs (SPEHA) on Monday, a position carrying the rank of ambassador and requiring Senate-confirmation. 

Coale is reportedly looking to replicate his Belarus strategy with Putin, proposing that the White House ease sanctions on Russia in exchange for releasing political prisoners.  

It’s a controversial plan that will be at the forefront of an appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which will consider his nomination. 

“I think there are some tough questions that John Coale needs to answer,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the outgoing ranking member of the panel, told The Hill.  

She commended Coale’s willingness to talk “to people on both sides of the aisle,” but called sanctions relief on Russia “unacceptable.” 

It’s unclear, however if Shaheen, who is retiring after this Congress, will get the chance to question him about it. 

The bureaucracy required ahead of a confirmation hearing, the panel’s workload and the scheduling of the lame duck Senate session after the midterm elections are all factors in whether Coale will come before the committee before the end of the year.  

Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), a Foreign Relations member who said he was not familiar with Coale, rejected commenting on the strategy of easing sanctions on Russia, calling negotiations for people’s lives “extraordinarily sensitive.” 

“I’m not going to comment in the media about this, or about undercutting him or supporting him, anything like that,” Hagerty said.

But Sen. Pete Ricketts (Neb.), the second-highest ranking Republican on the committee, rejected any sanctions relief on Moscow when asked for his reaction to the proposed strategy.  

“I would advise keeping the sanctions on,” he said, calling Putin “a dictator.”

“We need to keep punching him in the........

© The Hill