WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump has nominated a big-money political donor and philanthropist with personal ties to the coal industry as the next American ambassador to Canada.
The White House said in a statement Thursday that Trump has picked Kelly Knight Craft for the post, which has been vacant since January, and sent the nomination to the Senate.
Knight Craft, who would replace former ambassador Bruce Heyman, still needs approval from the Senate to take up the post.
Heyman resigned on Jan. 20, saying he would respect Trump's mandate that required ambassadors installed by former president Barack Obama to leave by Trump's Inauguration Day.
Knight Craft is married to American billionaire Joe Craft, who is the president and CEO of Alliance Resource Partners L.P., one of the largest coal producers in the eastern United States.
A profile by McClatchy newspapers in 2012 called him possibly Kentucky's most powerful non-elected individual.
