WASHINGTON ― Facing opposition from key Republican senators, President Donald Trump's nominee to be ambassador to Kuwait instead has taken a job with AmeriCorps in Washington.

Former Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib said he started Monday as senior adviser for strategic partnerships at AmeriCorps, where his role will include working with local communities in 50 states.

"I kindly asked the president to reconsider my appointment. His opinion was to give it a shot and wait for the (Senate Committee on Foreign Relations) to vote," Ghalib said by text to The Detroit News. "I expressed my interest in a different position and he accepted, which I appreciate so much."

Ghalib said he hasn't formally withdrawn from consideration for the Mideast ambassadorial role, saying, "it’s up to the president to decide whatever he wants about my previous nomination, but I’m more interested in serving in the new position."

At least four Republicans in the U.S. Senate said last fall that they wouldn't support Ghalib to be ambassador to Kuwait, meaning he lacked a majority of votes needed to advance out of the Foreign Relations Committee.

Several said that Ghalib was not qualified for the post, citing examples of his past remarks on Israel and Jews and positions that diverge from Trump's on the Middle East. The Hamtramck mayor has argued that the criticism of him by senators on the committee "was not fair."

“It was based on misinformation and deception of the media," Ghalib said after the hearing.

Ghalib was nominated by Trump in March for the post after Ghalib endorsed Trump for president last fall amid fury in Michigan's Arab American community over President Joe Biden's approach to Israel's war in Gaza.

During Ghalib's hearing, Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pennsylvania, asked three times whether Ghalib respects Trump's view that Israel should be the national homeland of the Jewish people, and Ghalib didn't directly answer yes or no. "I think everybody, we can coexist in the region," Ghalib said.

Texas Sen. Cruz, a senior Republican on the panel, went after Ghalib for social media posts that he "liked" on Facebook, including a comment comparing Jews to monkeys. Ghalib, in response, said he had a “bad habit” of acknowledging comments on posts.

“I don’t agree with it, Senator,” Ghalib said. "Clicking on it doesn't mean I endorse it."

"Well, actually, it means exactly that," Cruz said.

Ghalib told Cruz that he didn't support the resolution adopted by the Hamtramck City Council endorsing the movement to boycott, divest or sanction Israel, but The Detroit News found that he said exactly the opposite as the measure was adopted in 2024.

Cruz also said Ghalib's "long-standing," publicly stated positions about Israel and Mideast policy were in conflict with those of the United States and "disqualifying," including his criticism of the landmark Abraham Accords, his description of Iraq's Saddam Hussein as a "martyr" and his praise for the Muslim Brotherhood as "an inspiration."

The Abraham Accords were a 2020 deal Trump secured in his first term that normalized relations between Israel and several Arab countries.

A number of Senate Democrats on the panel also went after Ghalib, including Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, who told Ghalib she harbors "grave concerns" about his remarks, particularly his description of reports of sexual violence during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel as "lies" and deception.

She noted that when Ghalib met with her staff, he insisted there was no documented evidence of sexual violence on Oct 7, when there is evidence, Shaheen said. "That just shows to me a lack of recognition of what was going on," she said.

Ghalib said he condemned "all the atrocities and abuses that happened Oct. 7." He called it a "horrible" and "tragic" day.

"The only reason I did that, and I think it was in front of the protest in front of my office, is because President Biden, in a statement, talked about beheaded babies and stuff," Ghalib told Shaheen.

Sen. Jacky Rosen, a Democrat from Nevada who is Jewish, accused Ghalib of choosing to "inflame divisions and traffic in anti-Semitism," including characterizing leaders he doesn't like as "becoming Jewish."

"Now you can disagree with the Israeli government, but peddling anti-Semitism in such a public manner as an elected official, as a community leader, is beyond the pale," Rosen told Ghalib. "Given these other statements, I will not be supporting your nomination."

Ghalib repeatedly said during the hearing that past remarks attributed to him didn't reflect his actual views. He maintained that his controversial social media activity was taken out of context by the media or mistranslated from Arabic.

Ghalib's term as mayor ended last year.

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