Trump taps Mike Waltz for UN ambassador after ‘Signalgate’ scandal
President Donald Trump nominated former National Security Advisor Mike Waltz as U.N. ambassador after he left his post amid “Signalgate.”
WASHINGTON — Two Democratic senators said former national security adviser Mike Waltz should expect a “brutal” confirmation hearing for United Nations ambassador and predicted harsh questioning from lawmakers after using Signal to discuss highly sensitive details regarding a planned U.S. military strike in March.
President Donald Trump said May 1 that he was removing Waltz as national security adviser and making him UN ambassador, a position traditionally requiring a Senate vote and a hearing before its Foreign Relations Committee.
“I think it will be a brutal confirmation hearing,” Senate Intelligence ranking member Mark Warner, D-Virginia, said on CNN. “I think he’s going to have tough questions, not only from Democrats but from Republicans.”
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat on the foreign relations panel, concurred on CBS.
“It will be a brutal, brutal hearing. He’s not qualified for the job, just by nature of the fact that he participated in this Signal chain,” Duckworth said.
Signal chat fiasco
Waltz’s inadvertent inclusion of a journalist in a text chain, in which members of the president’s Cabinet discussed an attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen before it had happened, has dogged the administration since it became public in late March. The administration has denied that classified information was shared.
But that has done little to quell the push from Democrats to oust key players in the conversation, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who shared details of the attack in the encrypted but commercially available application.
Trump did not immediately fire anyone. Last week, Trump announced that he was moving Waltz out of the national security adviser position and named him United Nations ambassador nominee without explanation. Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio would simultaneously serve in his Cabinet role and fill the job of White House national security position for the foreseeable future.
Trump pulled his previous UN nominee, GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik, who was expected to be easily confirmed, over concerns about Republicans’ slim majority in the House of Representatives. Waltz is one of several Republicans who resigned from Congress to join the Trump administration.
Waltz admitted to making a “mistake” with the Signal chat and took “full responsibility” in an interview with Fox News afterwards.
Warner said in his May 4 interview on CNN that Hegseth should have been fired. Hegseth reportedly shared details of the attack in a second group chat that included his wife, his brother, and his lawyer.
Duckworth told CNN that everyone involved in the Waltz-created chat, which included Trump cabinet members and top White House advisers, should be dismissed from their positions.
“I think everybody on that Signal chain needs to be fired, because not a single one of them spoke up and said, hey, this is inappropriate. We should be in a secure channel,” she said.
Vice President JD Vance argued in an interview on Fox News that Waltz’s new role could be considered a promotion. Trump said in an interview that aired May 4 on NBC that Waltz’s removal as national security adviser was not meant as a punishment.
“Mike was a — as you know, he’s a fine guy. And I think he’ll do a very good job — knows the countries, knows leadership. And I think he’ll do very good at the United Nations,” Trump said.