Can Mike Waltz be confirmed as UN ambassador?: On Thursday, Mike Waltz was removed as national security adviser, but a few hours later, he was announced as moving to a new job: Ambassador to the United Nations.
That post has been vacant, after it was announced that Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), previously announced for that role, would instead remain in Congress.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will do double duty, also serving as national security adviser, the first person to hold both jobs at once since Henry Kissinger during the Ford Administration.
The Strange Mike Waltz Drama
Waltz’s departure from the White House comes weeks after the Signalgate scandal, in which top administration officials discussed plans to attack Yemen on the public app Signal, while accidentally adding journalist Jeffrey Goldberg to the chat.
Waltz created the chat, invited Goldberg, and later had to deny that he had ever been a source for Goldberg in the past.
Trump, according to speculation, wanted to remove Waltz from the national security adviser role, but did not want to appear like he was bowing to pressure in doing so.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce, during a briefing Thursday, hadn’t been told in advance of Waltz’s position switch, and was informed of the change by reporters.
But the switch raises a question: Can Waltz be confirmed?
Signalgate in Congress?
The national security adviser does not require confirmation by the Senate, but the U.N. ambassador does. Therefore, Waltz will be subjected to a confirmation hearing, where he will likely be asked under oath about Signalgate, among other topics.
Not only will such a hearing bring the Signalgate scandal back into the news, but it could also shed light on the role played by the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in the same controversy.
John Bolton, who has served as both national security adviser and U.N. ambassador — although only temporarily, during the George W. Bush presidency — discussed the issue on NewsNation this week.
Bolton predicted that “his confirmation hearing is going to be about nothing but Signal chat groups and classified information.”
A House Democrat agreed.
Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said this week, also on NewsNation, that the hearing will be “a really, really in-depth look at Signalgate. It’s going to give us an opportunity to really investigate that issue.”
Smith won’t be part of that, since he’s in the House and not the Senate.
“It’s going to be tough on Mike Waltz, it’s going to be tough on Pete Hegseth,” Smith added. “But let’s not forget, it’s going to be tough on Donald Trump as well. Donald Trump picked these people.”
We will also, most likely, get to the bottom of whether Waltz had ever communicated with Jeffrey Goldberg before that fateful Signal invitation.
Will He Be Confirmed?
The Republicans have a Senate majority and have succeeded in confirming all of Trump’s cabinet picks. Matt Gaetz was nominated as attorney general but withdrew before coming anywhere close to a hearing, while Stefanik also never reached a hearing, when the GOP decided that they couldn’t risk the loss of her seat in the House.
Unless Waltz’s confirmation hearing goes disastrously enough that he loses Republican support, it appears likely that Waltz will earn confirmation.
Still Using Signal?
There was another Waltz controversy, the day before the job switch was announced.
During the cabinet meeting on Wednesday, in which Trump officials went around the table and effusively praised the president, a Reuters photographer captured Waltz scrolling through a messaging app that appeared to be Signal.
Per the New York Times, Waltz was using “a modified version of Signal sold by TeleMessage that retains copies of messages to comply with government rules around preserving records.”
It wasn’t really the use of Signal, in general, that was scandalous in the Signalgate scandal, but that possibly classified information was discussed using the app.
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
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