总统唐纳德·特朗普据参议院外交关系委员会的高级民主党人说，美国提名的美国驻挪威大使在1994年的一次政治竞选中帮助制作了一张“种族主义”传单，但没有透露他的角色，也没有透露针对他和其他人的诉讼。
新泽西州参议员鲍勃·梅嫩德斯在披露法律文件后，呼吁白宫撤回马克·伯克哈尔特的提名。
国务院将问题提交给白宫，但白宫尚未回应置评请求。
华盛顿的美国国务院大楼。阿拉斯泰尔派克/法新社通过盖蒂图片，文件
“这些行动应该会剥夺任何人获得参议院批准的资格。梅嫩德斯在周四给白宫办公厅主任马克·梅多斯的一封信中写道:“在这个国家遭受创伤、对针对非裔美国人的暴力和种族主义行为进行清算的时期，提名一个参与如此卑鄙、种族主义阴谋的人担任公众信任的职位是不可想象的。”。
马克·伯克哈尔特，2001年7月11日。汤姆·威廉姆斯/CQ-点名公司
伯克哈尔特从1993年到2011年在佐治亚州众议院任职。在1994年北富尔顿县专员竞选期间，伯克哈尔特在选举前帮助分发了一份种族主义竞选传单，歪曲了民主党现任黑人戈登·乔伊纳的形象。
根据当时的诉讼，伯克哈尔特和其他人讨论了“北富尔顿县的白人选民不知道戈登·乔伊纳是黑人”文件显示，这些传单中有超过10万份分发给白人选民，使乔伊纳的皮肤变黑，涂上非洲式发型，扭曲了一只眼睛，并使他的嘴唇变得更厚。
马克·伯克哈尔特，总统。特朗普被提名为美国驻挪威大使，在1994年的一次改选中，帮助散发这份种族主义传单，诽谤佐治亚州的一名黑人县长。
马克·伯克哈尔特，总统。特朗普被提名为美国驻挪威大使，在1994年的一次改选中，帮助散发这份种族主义传单，诽谤佐治亚州的一名黑人县长。承蒙梅嫩德斯参议员的办公室
作为诉讼和道德调查的结果，伯克哈尔特说他批准了传单的付款，并掩盖了违反佐治亚州道德法律的付款。他为此支付了民事罚款，并向乔伊纳道歉。
梅嫩德斯说，伯克哈尔特没有向参议院外交关系委员会透露这些，该委员会负责审查国务院和大使职位的提名人。
当特朗普提名伯克哈尔特时，“我立刻感到震惊、震惊、沮丧、悲伤，非常非常受伤。”乔伊纳告诉《华盛顿邮报》他首先收到了梅嫩德斯的信和他办公室调查中收集的文件。
乔伊纳最终赢得了1994年的竞选，现在是一名私人执业律师，他的诽谤诉讼在当时引发了对伯克哈尔特的调查。该传单当时遭到了强烈反对，一篇《亚特兰大日报-宪法》的社论将其斥为“种族主义的热门文章”
但如今，当总统努力回应关于美国种族主义的新对话时，它又重新浮出水面。在一段视频中，一名白人支持者高呼“白人权力”是“伟大的人”，他因攻击黑人生活至关重要并赞扬支持者而面临强烈批评白宫后来说特朗普没有听到这首歌，他已经删除了这条微博。
伯克哈尔特只是特朗普的最新大使人选，其有争议的历史危及他们的提名。最近，他任命备受争议的共和党捐赠人、科奈尔公司(Conair Corporation)的继承人李·里佐托(Lee Rizzuto)担任美国驻百慕大总领事馆的负责人，此前，共和党和民主党因他有争议的推文宣扬阴谋论和诋毁政客而阻止了他被提名为驻巴巴多斯和其他加勒比海岛国大使。
Trump ambassador nominee must withdraw over role in 'racist' flyer, Democrat demands
PresidentDonald Trump's nominee to be the U.S. ambassador to Norway helped produce a "racist" flyer in a 1994 political campaign and failed to disclose his role or the lawsuit filed against him and others over it, according to the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., is calling on the White House to withdraw Mark Burkhalter's nomination after revealing the legal filing.
The State Department referred questions to the White House, which has not yet responded to requests for comment.
"These actions should disqualify anyone from Senate confirmation. During this time of national trauma and reckoning over violence and racist actions against African-Americans, however, it is unthinkable to nominate for a position of public trust an individual who participated in such a despicable, racist scheme," Menendez wrote in a letter to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows Thursday.
Burkhalter served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 1993 to 2011. During a 1994 campaign for North Fulton county commissioner, Burkhalter helped distribute a racist campaign flyer right before the election that distorted the image of Gordon Joyner, the Democratic incumbent who is Black.
According to a lawsuit at the time, Burkhalter and others discussed how "white voters in North Fulton County were unaware that Gordon Joyner is black." The flyers, more than 100,000 of which they distributed to white voters, darkened Joyner's skin, painted on an afro, distorted one eye, and made his lips thicker, according to the filings.
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As a result of that lawsuit and an ethics investigation, Burkhalter said he authorized payment for the flyer and covered up the payment in violation of Georgia House ethics laws. He paid a civil penalty for it and apologized to Joyner.
Menendez said that Burkhalter did not disclose any of this to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which vets nominees for the State Department and ambassadorships.
When Trump nominated Burkhalter, "I immediately was stunned, shocked, dismayed, saddened, and very, very hurt,"Joyner told the Washington Post, which first received Menendez's letter and the documents collected in his office's investigation.
It was a libel lawsuit from Joyner, who ultimately won the 1994 race and is now a lawyer in private practice, that launched the probe into Burkhalter at the time. The flyer faced backlash back then, with an Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial slamming it as a "racist hit piece."
But its resurfacing now comes as the president struggles to respond to the reinvigorated conversation on racism in America, facing strong criticism for attacking Black Lives Matter and praising supporters in a video where one white supporter chants "white power" as "great people." The White House later said Trump didn't hear the chant, and he has since deleted the tweet.
Burkhalter is just the latest Trump pick for an ambassadorship with a controversial history that imperils their nomination. Most recently, he appointed Lee Rizzuto, a controversial Republican donor and heir to the Conair Corporation fortune, to head the U.S. consulate general in Bermuda after Republicans and Democrats blocked his nomination to be ambassador to Barbados and other Caribbean island countries over his controversial tweets promoting conspiracy theories and trashing politicians.
