Home Θέματα Ομογένεια Why Is Tsunis Pushed for Ambassador Again? One Embarrassment Was Not Enough?

Why Is Tsunis Pushed for Ambassador Again? One Embarrassment Was Not Enough?

June 15, 2021

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By Nick Stamatakis

It seems that “Karloutsos & Co.” are on the move again… For a while, it was rumored that Karloutsos himself would be appointed ambassador to Greece but it was too far-fetched a proposition and the “father” along with his son was involved in too much legal trouble. But the “family” needed to “capitalize” on all those years smooching with the Bidens and so they sought another solution. Enter Senator Menendez, chairman of the powerful Foreign Relations Committee, and voila! The miserable failure of George Tsunis in his infamous nomination hearing (for the ambassadorship to Norway) in the Senate in 2013 suddenly evaporated!

How embarrassing was this 2013 hearing? It was the most embarrassing hearing ever… Tsunis was forced to admit that he had never been to Norway and was unable to answer very basic questions about the region… He quit the nomination almost instantly…

But now they want to try again with the same clueless guy, George Tsunis, who, because he has given a ton of money over the years to Biden he is thought to deserve to become Ambassador to Greece.

Kalroutsos and Co. have to spare the Greek-American community one more embarrassment. Tsunis is totally unable to handle any issue in foreign relations and Greece is at the most important geopolitical region on the planet with many issues burning from American bases to oil exploration to disputes with Turkey to instability in the Balkans and a number of hotspots nearby: Libya, Syria, Cyprus, Egypt, and Israel… Not to mention Ukraine and Russia in the immediate vicinity. No president and no Senator in their right mind would send Tsunis to Greece…

But Biden as we all know is not in his right mind for a couple of years now – if he ever was… And in the DC swamp, where the only qualification that really matters is money, everything is possible…

Still, the odds are that Tsunis will embarrass himself and all of us one more time and he needs to stay out of this…

Those interested to see how BIG was the embarrassment in 2013 take a look below:

https://www.npr.org/2014/06/17/323032817/the-would-be-ambassador-to-norway-whos-never-been-there-himself

https://www.change.org/p/robert-menendez-we-ask-mr-obama-to-withdraw-the-tsunis-nomination-or-alternatively-that-the-senate-act-in-the-interests-of-the-u-s-taxpayers-and-ties-with-norway-thus-rejecting-the-nomination

https://twitter.com/CitizensvTsunis

https://citizensvstsunisdems4compdips.weebly.com/

https://citizensvstsunisdems4compdips.weebly.com/about.html

https://www.tnp.no/norway/politics/4266-us-embassy-to-norway-apologizes-for-new-ambassador-candidates-gaffe

https://www.minnpost.com/dc-dispatches/2014/02/minnesotans-pushing-back-against-obamas-norway-ambassador-pick/

https://sites.google.com/site/tsunispetition/

https://apnews.com/article/34f103b8f2c44701b5c286719a9eadd1

https://www.bostonherald.com/2014/06/22/editorial-pull-the-plug-on-this-guy/

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2875289/Nominee-Norwegian-ambassador-major-Obama-donor-pulls-cringeworthty-Senate-hearing-knew-Norway-s-government.html

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/george-tsunis_b_5642211

BELOW THE NEWS BY AXIOS

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SOURCE: AXIOS

Scoop: Biden pressed to renominate failed Obama ambassador pick

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) has asked President Biden to nominate George Tsunis, a New York hotel executive and major Democratic donor, for an ambassadorship, people familiar with the matter tell Axios.

Why it matters: As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Menendez has the ability to slow-walk any ambassadorial nominee, giving the White House plenty of reasons to placate him on one specific candidate. Tsunis has a checkered political history, though.

During his 2013 confirmation hearing to be ambassador to Norway, Tsunis acknowledged he had not visited the country and mistakenly referred to the country’s head of government as “president,” not “prime minister.”
Tsunis’s performance was lambasted by then-Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), lampooned in comedy sketches and ultimately languished in the Senate.
Tsunis pulled himself out of contention in 2014.

What they’re saying: “I have a longstanding policy on not commenting on anyone who may, or may not, become a nominee,” Menendez told Axios.

The White House also declined to comment.

The intrigue: Tsunis is the founder and CEO of Chartwell Hotels. He has long been a Biden donor and even indicated he’d support him in 2016, when the then-vice president ultimately decided not to run.

During President Obama’s 2012 reelection effort, Tsunis bundled $1.3 million for his campaign.
Tsunis also has been a staunch supporter of Menendez and linked his interest in helping Sen. Cory Booker’s (D-N.J.) 2020 presidential bid — before Biden got in the race — to Menendez.
”This is George helping Sen. Menendez help Cory Booker,” Tsunis said on CNBC in March of 2019.

Between the lines: Biden plans to draw mostly on political allies and former aides for his first slate of political ambassadors, and it’s unclear how many pure donors will make the initial cut.

Even though he has had a list of potential ambassadors in hand since March, the president has delayed announcing his first political group and likely will do it later in June, after he returns from his first trip abroad.
Some advisers had wanted Biden to name ambassadors for NATO and the European Union before meeting with leaders in the UK and then Brussels over the next week.

Be smart: After his disastrous hearing, Tsunis made inroads with some senators, who appreciated his willingness to listen and learn.