O'Brien, currently a presidential envoy for hostage affairs at the U.S. Department of State, has a long history in Republican foreign policy circles.

The project proposes to build 40 nuclear reactors across the Middle East that would feed a regional electric grid.

President Donald Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, is facing new scrutiny over a June 2015 trip to the Middle East that he didn't report as part of his security clearance background check.