U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power might have been able to postpone Wednesday’s emergency meeting of the Security Council about the use of chemical weapons inside Syria rather than sending a subordinate, according to foreign policy expert Richard Grenell.
"Emergency meetings are only called for emergencies," he told Newsmax exclusively on Friday. "They are rare. They can, however, easily be postponed a little while to allow for ambassadors who need to travel back from previously scheduled events."
Grenell, the longtime communications director and de facto press secretary for four U.S. ambassadors to the United Nations, took Power to task for missing the meeting in an op-ed piece that was published early Friday by
Newsmax.
"Samantha Power has been on the job exactly 19 days. In that time, she's already traveled from New York to Los Angeles to deliver a speech. Her absence from the U.N. on Wednesday sends a terrible message at a time when U.S. credibility in the region is suffering," he penned.
"While the mainstream media continue to describe Power as a 'human rights advocate,' the description seems pro forma and disingenuous. Shouldn't a human rights advocate have to make human rights a priority?"
Fox News reported that Power was in Ireland on a personal trip at the time of the meeting. It also reported that there are some 20 daily flights from Dublin to New York's JFK Airport, half of which would have been scheduled to arrive before the 3 p.m. start time of Wednesday’s Security Council meeting.
Ireland's
Radio Kerry reported that Power's husband, Harvard Law professor Cass Sunstein, was scheduled to speak at the Charlie Chaplin Film Festival in Waterville, Ireland, on Friday. He is a former advisor to President Barack Obama.
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