Mike Waltz confirmation hearing set for U.N. ambassador post
Senator Democrats will get a chance to scrutinize President Trump’s former national security adviser over his mishandling of sensitive military operations during his confirmation hearing to the post of U.S. ambassador to the U.N., scheduled for July 15.
Mike Waltz, former Republican Florida congressman, served for five months as Trump’s national security adviser before being dismissed for his role in mistakenly adding a journalist to a Signal group chat that was discussing attack plans in Yemen. Trump nominated Waltz for UN ambassador after deciding to keep his first nominee, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), in the House because of the GOP’s slim majority.
Waltz was at the center of a firestorm in April for his apparent mistaken inclusion of the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic on the Signal group chat, in which Trump’s most senior advisers detailed attack plans against Houthis in Yemen.
Senate Democrats slammed Waltz and Trump’s national security team, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, for the careless handling of sensitive and potentially classified information. Senate Republicans downplayed the scandal. Those differences are likely to play out during Waltz’s confirmation hearing with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) predicted in May that Waltz would have a “brutal” hearing in front of the panel, of which she is a member. Duckworth is also a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and is a former Black Hawk helicopter pilot who was wounded in combat.
She was outspoken in her condemnation of the Signal chat participants as endangering American troops.
“How many times does Pete Hegseth need to leak classified intelligence before Donald Trump and Republicans understand that he isn’t only a f—ing liar, he is a threat to our national security?” she said in a statement.
“Every day he stays in his job is another day our troops’ lives are endangered by his singular stupidity. He must resign in disgrace.”