Biden taps ex-Trump official Elliott Abrams for public diplomacy commission.

President Biden Nominates Elliott Abrams to U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy

President Joe Biden has made a surprising move by nominating former Trump official Elliott Abrams to the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy. Abrams, a controversial figure with a neoconservative background, has served in multiple Republican administrations, including as former President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Iran and Venezuela.

Abrams’s nomination is not without controversy. His involvement in the Iran-Contra scandal and his defense of human rights abuses by the U.S.-backed Salvadoran military in the 1980s have made him a target of criticism from progressives. In fact, he had a heated exchange with Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) during a congressional hearing in 2019. It is expected that Biden’s progressive supporters will express their fury over this nomination.

ACPDS’s Role in Public Diplomacy

The U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy (ACPD) plays a crucial role in assessing and influencing U.S. Government activities aimed at understanding, informing, and influencing foreign publics. Its mission is to increase the understanding of and support for these activities.

The ACPD conducts research and organizes symposiums that provide honest assessments and informed discourse on public diplomacy efforts across the government, as stated on the State Department’s website.

Abrams, who was responsible for the Trump administration’s efforts to remove Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro from power, has since distanced himself from the former president. In fact, he openly expressed his dislike for Trump, despite being nominated by him.

“In 2016, I said Donald Trump was not fit to be president, and my view on that never wavered,” Abrams told Forward in January 2021.

However, Abrams faces the strongest criticism from the Left. His human rights record, particularly his alleged involvement in covering up Salvadoran human rights abuses, has drawn significant backlash. During his time as assistant secretary of state for human rights and humanitarian affairs in the Reagan administration, Abrams was accused by Human Rights Watch of distorting facts to discredit accounts of the El Mozote massacre. This massacre, in which hundreds of civilians, mostly women and children, were raped and murdered by Salvadoran troops, is considered one of the deadliest in recent Latin American history.

During Abrams’s testimony to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Ilhan Omar referenced the El Mozote incident and used it as a basis to question Abrams about his stance on violence against civilians in the pursuit of U.S. interests. Abrams dismissed her question as “ridiculous.”

“I suppose there is a question in there, and the answer is that the entire thrust of American policy in Venezuela is to support the Venezuelan people’s effort to restore democracy to their country. That’s our policy,” he responded.

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