Donald Trump's nominee to lead the UN migration agency said today that he has convinced member states that he holds no anti-Muslim views, after a series of reports accused him of prejudice against Islam.
Ken Isaacs, who has a long record of humanitarian work with the Christian charity Samaritan's Purse and within George W. Bush's presidential administration, has been nominated by the US State Department to head the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Isaacs is in Geneva trying to rally support for his candidacy ahead of a June vote in which IOM's 169-member states will choose their next director-general, a post traditionally held by an American.
But his candidacy has been complicated by reports detailing incidents where Isaacs apparently tweeted or re-tweeted material offensive to Muslims.
Speaking to journalists on Monday, Isaacs said he has met with envoys from dozens of IOM member-states, including majority Muslim nations, and convinced them he was not a bigot.
"Yes, they feel satisfied," he said, adding that "after talking to me for a minute or two and hearing who I am, what I talk about, what my heart is," questions about prejudice vanish, he said.
"I have never shown discrimination against anybody for anything, period," he said. "If (people) need help, I have always helped them."
"First, I would point out the bio at the top that says retweets are not endorsements," Isaacs said in response to a question about the CNN report. "I have retweeted many things to stimulate conversation."
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