Exclusive — Pastor Brunson Calls on Chairman Jim Risch to Schedule Hearing for Trump Religious Freedom Ambassador to Ensure Confirmation before Christmas

Pastor Andrew Brunson, who was imprisoned in Turkey for two years before President Donald Trump secured his release back in Trump’s first term, is ratcheting up pressure on Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) to get Trump’s Religious Freedom ambassador confirmed before Christmas.

Trump’s nominee for the post, former Rep. Mark Walker (R-NC), has been languishing all year without even a scheduled confirmation hearing. Risch has a scheduled nomination hearing on Thursday of this week before the Foreign Relations Committee and could easily add Walker’s nomination to the docket if he wanted to — and if he did and Walker advances through the committee as expected then he could get confirmed by the full U.S. Senate before Christmas.

Brunson’s voice, as one of the highest profile freed political prisoners who has become a face of the religious freedom community, joining the fray really eliminates any excuses for Risch at this stage.

“I write to you as a pastor who spent two years imprisoned in Turkey simply for my Christian faith and ministry,” Brunson writes in the letter addressed to Risch, which was obtained exclusively by Breitbart News ahead of its public release. “During that time I experienced firsthand the hostility that many governments around the world direct toward Christians and other religious minorities. I am deeply grateful for the role you and many of your colleagues played in securing my release, and I remain profoundly thankful for America’s willingness to stand for its citizens when they are persecuted for their faith.”

Brunson added that the threats against Christians worldwide are on the rise in a big way.

Pastor Andrew Brunson by Breitbart News

“Today, however, I am compelled to raise an urgent alarm: the global persecution of Christians is worsening at an alarming rate,” Brunson writes. “In country after country — Nigeria, Nicaragua, China, Iran, Pakistan, North Korea, and many others — believers are being imprisoned, tortured, displaced, and killed solely because they follow Jesus Christ. Open Doors now estimates that over 380 million Christians live under high or extreme levels of persecution. This is not a marginal issue; it is one of the greatest human-rights crises of our time.”

From there, Brunson specifically asks Risch to add Walker’s nomination to the already-planned Thursday, December 11, Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing. It would be extremely easy for Risch to do this.

“For this reason, the position of Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom is not a ceremonial or secondary post — it is a vital instrument of American leadership and moral clarity,” Brunson writes. “The Trump administration has nominated Rep. Mark Walker, a former pastor with a proven commitment to defending persecuted believers, to fill this role. Yet, to my knowledge, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has not scheduled a confirmation hearing for Rep. Mark Walker, even though the 119th Congress is rapidly drawing to a close.”

Brunson is absolutely correct that Risch has dropped the ball on this. Trump nominated Walker way back in April, and now just weeks before Christmas with hundreds of millions of Christians worldwide facing persecution Risch has not scheduled Walker’s confirmation hearing. Sources familiar with the matter told Breitbart News that Walker would easily clear the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and likely win unanimous support in committee if put up for a vote. Similarly, it is expected that if Walker goes from there to the full U.S. Senate for a vote — he has to pass committee first — he would win unanimous support from the Republican majority in the chamber with one possible exception: Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC). Budd, whom Walker ran against in a primary for the Senate seat he currently holds, has according to some sources privately grumbled about the nomination. But it’s hard to see Budd actually vote against Walker if he were put to a floor vote before Christmas.

That’s why what Brunson is asking for makes a lot of sense. “Senator Risch, I respectfully but urgently implore you to schedule a confirmation hearing for Rep. Mark Walker this week — ideally, this Thursday, December 11 — if at all possible,” Brunson writes to Risch.

“Every week that passes without a confirmed Ambassador-at-Large is a week in which the United States lacks its most visible and authoritative voice speaking up for imprisoned pastors in Nicaragua, for villages burned in Nigeria, for house-church leaders disappeared in China, and for the countless others whose only crime is their faith in Jesus Christ,” Brunson adds.

Again, if Risch added Walker to the slate of nominees the committee is considering on Thursday of this week, he would almost certainly sail through the committee vote process and then on to the floor where he again is almost certain to win confirmation if his nomination gets to that point. Breitbart News can reveal that Risch’s office is aware of Brunson’s letter. Risch has also been offered a standing opportunity to come on Breitbart News radio on SiriusXM 125 the Patriot Channel to explain why he has not scheduled this confirmation hearing yet.

Instead of taking up Breitbart News’s offer for an interview on the matter, Risch’s office provided a statement from the senator that contains a clear lie: The senator claims in it that Walker does not have the votes. Risch does not name a single senator opposed to his nomination, and no senator has publicly opposed it.

“SFRC processes nominations in consultation with the priority given by the White House and we move those that have the votes. This nomination does not fit in either category,” Risch said in the statement.

“The world is watching to see whether the United States will continue to lead on this issue or whether we will allow this critical position to remain vacant at a moment when persecuted believers need America’s voice more than ever,” Brunson writes. “For this reason, I would be most appreciative if the Senate would confirm Mark Walker without delay before Congress adjourns for Christmas.”