Friendliness has its limits, though, and tenacious Dutch reporters showed Peter Hoekstra, America’s new envoy, that he could be in for a rough ride. Mr. Hoekstra, a Trump nominee and a former nine-term congressman from Michigan, formally took up his post on Wednesday. Celebratory smiles turned to grimaces, however, when, at what should have been a pro forma news conference, Mr. Hoekstra ran into journalists who wouldn’t take no comment for an answer. It all began in December, when a Dutch TV reporter asked Mr. Hoekstra about comments he made in 2015. “The Islamic movement has now gotten to a point where they have put Europe into chaos,” Mr. Hoekstra said at the time.

Source: New York Times January 15, 2018 01:07 UTC