US Senate confirms dozens of Trump nominees, filling gaps in diplomatic corps

The U.S. Senate on Friday confirmed dozens of President Donald Trump's nominees for government positions, including some high-profile ambassadorships and top State Department posts that have been open for months.

The list includes 11 ambassadors to foreign nations, including envoys to Australia, Norway and Brazil, as well as five people nominated to ambassador-rank positions, filling a fraction of the more than 100 vacant ambassadorial positions after Trump broke with U.S. tradition and recalled dozens of career diplomats appointed under his predecessor, Democratic former President Joe Biden.

The Senate approved the list of 74 nominations by 51 to 47, along party lines, with Trump's fellow Republicans in favor and Democrats and independents who caucus with Democrats opposed.

The list also includes six assistant secretary of state nominees, including the top State Department officials for the Middle East, Europe and Western Hemisphere regions, filling key diplomatic roles that have been filled on an interim basis since Trump returned to office.

One nomination — Florida politician Daniel Perez's appointment as ambassador to Brazil — could be complicated. The Brazilian government has held up giving formal approval of Perez amid a diplomatic spat with Washington.

A senior State Department official said on Tuesday that the U.S. has revoked the visa of Brazil's ambassador in Washington, Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, after Brazil withheld formal approval for Perez and denied visas to two American diplomats.

The move marked an escalation in the rift between Trump and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The confirmed nominees also include former Republican U.S. House member David Brat to be ambassador to Australia and Michael Kavoukjian, a former CIA officer and attorney, as ambassador to Norway.