Scoop: Waltz finally gets Senate hearing for UN post
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Michael Waltz at the White House on May 1. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
President Trump's former national security adviser Mike Waltz is scheduled to appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee next Tuesday or Wednesday for his confirmation hearing to be ambassador to the UN, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Waltz's hearing will give Democrats an opportunity to put Trump's foreign policy on trial and grill the former Florida congressman and Green Beret on everything from his role in Signalgate to the White House's long-term goals on Iran and China.
- Trump dismissed Waltz from his position on May 1, about a month after he inadvertently included The Atlantic's editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg in a Signal chat discussing sensitive details about a strike in Yemen.
- In announcing his firing as the national security adviser, Trump also found him a new position, UN ambassador, a post that had been promised and then was pulled from Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.).
- Since then, Waltz has kept a low profile.
The intrigue: On Iran, Waltz was perceived to be more hawkish than Vice President Vance and Steven Witkoff, Trump's envoy.
- But less than two months after Waltz was ousted, Trump ordered strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities.
Zoom out: Waltz's ouster was the first major shake-up of Trump's second term. It came after he ran afoul of Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer.
- He also clashed with other members of the Cabinet and White House staff. On a March trip to Greenland, Vance counseled him about "working more collaboratively," with the Cabinet, Axios reported at the time.
Zoom in: Democrats on the foreign relations committee, including Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.), have been deeply critical of Trump's foreign policy. Kaine forced a War Powers Act vote on the floor after Trump's Iranian strikes, but it failed.
- There's also broad concern among Democrats about Trump's commitment to international institutions like the UN and how the White House will use them to counter China's growing influence.
