U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert will be nominated ambassador to the UN, Bloomberg reports. Rumors have swirled about her nomination since early November after current ambassador Nikki Haley resigned on good terms with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Before joining the administration in 2017, Nauert was a TV anchor for Fox News and won an Emmy nomination while working at ABC News. She reported on the 2016 national election for Fox and has since traveled to Myanmar and Saudi Arabia in her State Department role.
The President set off the rumor mill by mentioning his daughter Ivanka Trump as a possible replacement for Haley, but the unpaid White House advisor squashed them on Twitter. He then stoked it by floating the names of some ambassadors to countries such as Canada and Germany and a failed Republican candidate for senator.
Haley is a powerful presence in the administration and won Cabinet-level status despite officially reporting to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Nauerts strength may be in her ability to communicate White House policy, the New York Times reports: “Mr. Trump values television skills and Ms. Nauert has impressed him with her communication ability.”
“Nauert is a very good public operator and should do a professional job presenting U.S. policy at the UN. It is less clear that she has the experience to hammer out hard deals with China and Russia over problems like Iran and North Korea,” United Nations University fellow Richard Gowan told Bloomberg.
