Secretary of State Some saw Malinowski as a likely nominee for Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, but his previous registration as a lobbyist while at Human Rights Watch necessitated a waiver from the President. On July 8, 2013, during Obama's second term, Malinowski was nominated to serve as Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. He testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on September 24, 2013, and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 2, 2014. According to columnist Jennifer Rubin, leaders from both parties praised Malinowski in 2014 for his defense of human rights and his work toward ending torture. In 2016, Malinowski said the State Department planned to release a list of North Korean human rights abusers. He backed the United Nations' efforts to investigate possible war crimes committed during the Sri Lankan Civil War. He assisted with sanctioning Russian officials under the Magnitsky Act for human rights abuses. In July 2014, Bahrain's government expelled Malinowski after he met with members of a Bahraini opposition group during a scheduled visit. The foreign ministry of Bahrain asserted that his meeting was an improper intervention in the country's affairs but said the incident would not affect Bahrain–U.S. relations. The U.S. State Department released a statement of concern about the actions while Secretary of State John Kerry called Bahrain's actions unacceptable and contrary to diplomatic protocol. Malinowski returned to Bahrain in December 2014 with the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs. Following the end of his tenure at the State Department, Malinowski joined fellow former Obama officials to lobby Congress to prevent the Trump administration from lifting the sanctions on Russia following its annexation of Crimea. He criticized Donald Trump for having an "obscene fondness" for the world's tyrants and for instituting a "complete departure from decades of American tradition." U.S. House of Representatives Elections 2018 On October 2, 2017, Malinowski announced his candidacy for New Jersey's 7th congressional district in the 2018 midterm elections. He decided to run for Congress after the 2016 election of Donald Trump, which he saw as an indication that America was in "deep trouble". Malinowski cited health care, immigration, diplomacy, environmental policy, and infrastructure as areas of focus. Malinowski supports the Affordable Care Act and criticized the Republican Party's attempts to dismantle it. He supports a public health insurance option, but opposes Medicare