特朗普政府任命了一名有争议的共和党捐助者和商人担任美国驻百慕大总领事馆的负责人，绕过了两党对提名他担任美国大使的反对。
科奈尔公司财产的继承人李·里祖托由总统提名唐纳德·特朗普在2018年和2019年，他被任命为美国驻巴贝多和其他加勒比海岛国的特使，但他的提名被参议院共和党人和民主党人否决了，因为他在推特上发布了一条有争议的推文，宣传关于特德·克鲁兹夫人的阴谋论，并诋毁米特·罗姆尼、希拉里·克林顿和其他人。
他的新任命引发了批评，因为它向美国最亲密的邻居和国务院的普通民众传达了一个信息，许多人对这一决定感到不满。
“共和党控制的美国参议院认为，里佐托没有资格领导美国驻外使团。华盛顿关注西半球的智库美洲对话组织(Inter-American Dialogue)的迈克尔·卡米莱里(Michael Camilleri)表示:“特朗普总统让他担任百慕大总领馆馆长的决定，暴露出他对参议院、百慕大人和更广泛的加勒比共同体以及美国外交官的重要工作缺乏尊重。”。
丹尼斯·里祖托和小莱安德罗·里祖托参加2019年2月23日在佛罗里达州棕榈滩举行的“乡村来到三月一日的拉各斯”
据开放秘密组织称，2016年，里佐托在几个州向特朗普的总统竞选团队、其他共和党候选人和共和党捐赠了至少45.44万美元，并向希拉里·克林顿的竞选团队和民主党捐赠了2.5万美元。据报道，在特朗普首次被提名为驻巴巴多斯大使仅两周后，他还帮助资助了特朗普的马拉加-拉戈俱乐部的“小号美国”晚会。据华盛顿邮报报道。
对他最初提名的反对集中在Rizzuto的推特账户上。这位58岁的高管在由他父亲创建的电器和美容产品公司Conair转发了攻击特朗普当时的政治对手的信息，包括参议员特德·克鲁兹米特·罗姆尼和希拉里·克林顿。
这些信息称罗姆尼为“哑巴A**”，克林顿为“失忆的恐怖分子”，同时指责克鲁兹的妻子海蒂是北美联盟运动的领导人，“其目标是通过合并美国、加拿大和墨西哥政府来破坏美国的主权”。
克鲁兹的发言人拒绝置评。
当他在2018年1月首次被提名时，内布拉斯加州参议员本·萨塞(Ben Sasse)给出了一个特别尖锐的回应:“里佐托先生应该可以戴上他的锡纸帽子，带着他淫秽的阴谋论和子虚乌有的指控的证据来我们的办公室。在此期间，参议院可能需要知道他对登月的看法。”
“愤世嫉俗者和疯子很可能很难获得参议院的批准，”参议院外交关系委员会成员萨塞的发言人说，该委员会要求任何大使在参议院获得批准投票之前必须首先获得批准。
百慕大哈密尔顿教区的“雪松”。
两年后，当被问及瑞祖托被任命为美国总领事馆首席官员时，萨斯的发言人向美国广播公司新闻部提及了2018年的声明。
“保护海外美国公民是我们外交官的首要任务。任命一位阴谋论者和失败的大使提名人来领导目前由一位经验丰富的职业外交官员领导的领事馆只会削弱国务院执行这一使命的能力，”卡米莱里说，她曾在巴拉克·奥巴马总统领导下的国务院和美洲国家组织任职。
这不是第一次有政治任命的人被选为美国驻百慕大使团的领导人。百慕大是英国海外领土，以度假胜地而闻名。乔治·布什总统在2003年任命棕榈滩投资人丹尼斯·科尔曼担任这个角色，在2006年任命德克萨斯州作家兼商人格雷戈里·斯雷顿担任这个角色。
在奥巴马第一任期的头几个月里，斯莱顿一直担任这个角色，写了一本关于美国和百慕大关系的书，并被国会黑人核心小组授予杰出外交服务奖。
虽然参议院必须确认总统提名的大使人选，但白宫有权任命一些人担任像这样的高级职位。
在周三宣布他的任命时，美国国务院赞扬了里佐托作为职业美容协会主席、北美美容活动有限责任公司董事、美容贸易展Cosmoprof NA的制作人以及“时尚源杂志”的作者所做的工作
Trump appoints Conair heir who promoted conspiracy theories to head US consulate in Bermuda
The Trump administration has appointed a controversial Republican donor and businessman to head the U.S. consulate general in Bermuda, bypassing bipartisan opposition to his nomination to be a U.S. ambassador.
Lee Rizzuto, heir to the Conair Corporation fortune, was nominated by President Donald Trump in 2018 and 2019 to be the U.S. envoy to Barbados and other Caribbean island countries, but his nomination was sunk by Senate Republicans and Democrats after his controversial tweets promoting a conspiracy theory about Sen. Ted Cruz's wife and trashing Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton, and others came to light.
His new appointment has sparked criticism for the message it sends America's closest neighbors and the State Department's rank and file, many of whom were upset with the decision.
"Mr. Rizzuto was deemed unqualified to lead a U.S. mission overseas by the Republican-held United States Senate. President Trump's decision to install him at the head of the consulate general in Bermuda betrays a lack of respect for the Senate, for Bermudans and the broader Caribbean community, and for the crucial work of American diplomats," said Michael Camilleri of the Inter-American Dialogue, a think tank in Washington focused on the Western Hemisphere.
Denise Rizzuto and Leandro Rizzuto Jr. attend Country Comes To Mar-a-Lago at Mar-a-Lago, Feb. 23, 2019, in Palm Beach, Fla.
Rizzuto donated at least $454,400 to Trump's presidential campaign, other Republican candidates, and the Republican Party in several states in 2016, according to OpenSecrets, as well as $25,000 to Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic Party. He also reportedly helped fund a "Trumpettes USA" gala at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club, just two weeks after he was first nominated to be ambassador to Barbados, according to the Washington Post.
Opposition to his original nomination centered on Rizzuto's Twitter account. The 58-year old executive at Conair, the appliance and beauty product company built by his father, retweeted messages that attacked Trump's political rivals at the time, including Sen. Ted Cruz, Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton.
The messages called Romney a "Dumb A**" and Clinton a "terrorist with amnesia," while accusing Cruz's wife Heidi of being a leader in the North American Union movement, "whose goal is to destroy the sovereignty of the United States," one message said, by merging the governments of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
A spokesperson for Sen. Cruz declined to comment.
When he was first nominated in January 2018, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Nebraska, had a particularly pointed message in response: "Mr. Rizzuto should feel free to put on his tinfoil hat and visit our office with evidence for his salacious conspiracy theories and cuckoo allegations. While he's at it, the Senate probably needs to know his views on the moon landing."
"Cynics and nuts are probably going to have a hard time securing Senate confirmation," said the spokesperson for Sasse, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which is required to first approve any ambassadors before they get a confirmation vote on the Senate floor.
Asked about Rizzuto's appointment as principal officer at the U.S. consulate general two years later, Sasse's spokesperson referred ABC News to the 2018 statement.
"Protecting U.S. citizens abroad is the first job of our diplomats. Appointing a conspiracy theorist and failed ambassadorial nominee to head a consulate currently led by an experienced, career foreign service officer can only weaken the State Department's ability to carry out that mission," said Camilleri, who served at the State Department under President Barack Obama and at the Organization of American States.
It is not the first time that a political appointee has been selected to lead the U.S. mission in Bermuda, a British overseas territory known most for being a vacation destination. President George W. Bush named Palm Beach investor Dennis Coleman to the role in 2003 and Texas author and businessman Gregory Slayton in 2006.
Slayton stayed on in the role through the first months of Obama's first term, authored a book on U.S.-Bermuda relations, and was awarded the Distinguished Foreign Service Award by the Congressional Black Caucus.
While the Senate must confirm a president's nominees for ambassadorships, the White House is entitled to appoint individuals to certain senior posts like this.
In announcing his appointment Wednesday, the State Department praised Rizzuto for his work as chairman of the Professional Beauty Association, director of the North American Beauty Events LLC, the producer of Cosmoprof NA, a beauty trade show, and creator of "Style Source Magazine."
