Kyle McCarter, the man nominated by US President Donald Trump as Ambassador to Kenya, faced an intense grilling on Tuesday at the hands of the Foreign Relations Committee in the US Senate.
The lawmakers questioned him on several issues including immigration, gay rights and his tweets following Trump's election in 2016.
After Trump's shock win, McCarter had tweeted: "Hillary for prison. No, really."
This was in reference to the 'Lock her up' chants popularised by Trump supporters against Hillary Clinton whom they wanted prosecuted over a highly controversial trove of emails.
Hillary's running mate in the 2016 poll, Senator Tim Kaine, sits on the Foreign Relations Committee and wasted no time tearing into McCarter over the tweets.
[caption caption="Kyle McCarter"]
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Kaine stated that he was 'completely perplexed' by the tweet and questioned whether McCarter was worthy of representing the US in a foreign country.
McCarter initially tried to explain himself by noting that he had previously worked in countries where opposition figures were arrested for their views but he was shut down by Kaine who reiterated that such repression was antithetical to US values.
Eventually, McCarter admitted that the tweet was not his finest moment.
"There is hype in an election that was perhaps not called for.
“It was perhaps not the wisest of tweets...It is one of those tweets you’d like to reel in but can’t," he stated.
Another of McCarter's tweets where he attacked former President Barrack Obama's 'welcoming of refugees' was another talking point but McCarter insisted that he was only interested in the proper vetting of immigrants.
This came after he was reminded by Senator Chris Murphy that he "would be going to a country that hosts 500,000 refugees.”
Senator Jeanne Shaheen put McCarter on the spot over his past opposition as a state legislator to same-sex marriage.
McCarter referenced recent pro-LGBT court rulings in Kenya noting that he supported decriminalization of homosexual acts and further promised to meet members of the LGBT community in Kenya.
[caption caption="Outgoing US Ambassador to Kenya Bob Godec"]
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