Scoop: Trump's pick for ambassador to Norway did not disclose his involvement in the creation of a racist flier that distorted the features of a black politician in Georgia, darkened his features, gave him a large afro, prompted a libel suit 1/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trumps-pick-for-ambassador-involved-in-racist-smear-against-black-politician/2020/07/02/3505e15a-bc13-11ea-86d5-3b9b3863273b_story.html

The black politician sued for libel, resulting in an out-of-court settlement, an apology signed by Trump’s nominee and three other men, and payment of an undisclosed sum. The flier itself is...quite something 2/:

This morning, Sen. Menendez sent a letter to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows notifying him of the incident involving the nominee, Mark Burkhalter, and demanding that the nomination be immediately withdrawn. 3/

I asked the politician who was targeted by the flier how he felt upon learning that Burkhalter was picked to represent the U.S. abroad. “I immediately was stunned, shocked, dismayed, saddened, and very, very hurt," Gordon Joyner said

The flier scandal occurred while Trump's nominee was working for a Georgia politician named Mitch Skandalakis, a rather Dickensian name 5/

Skandalakis admitted responsibility for another flier with a photograph of Joyner next to his white opponent. “The Issue Isn’t Black or White,” read the flier with the word “Black” above Joyner and “White” above his caucasian opponent. 6/

The court filing says that during a meeting Burkhalter attended before the flier was created, attendees discussed that “white voters in North Fulton County were unaware that Gordon Joyner is black.” 7/

Even by the standards of the time, the flier sparked a controversy when it was released, with a 1995 editorial in the Atlanta Journal Constitution calling it a “racist hit piece.” 8/

The State Department and the National Security Council referred questions about Burkhalter to the White House, which did not respond to requests for comment 9/