UNITED STATES
A former Fox News journalist with no diplomatic experience is reportedly under “serious consideration” for appointment as US Ambassador to the United Nations.
US President, Donald Trump is believed to favour Heather Nauert (pictured), who currently serves as the State Department’s Chief Media Spokeswoman.
Mr Trump told a media conference that Ms Nauert was being considered, but a formal announcement would not be made at the moment.
Further comment on the matter was declined.
Ms Nauert, who has no experience in hands-on diplomacy, would replace Nikki Haley, who, in her first year on the job, emerged as one of the Administration’s principal foreign policy voices, eclipsing the camera-shy Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson.
However, Ms Haley’s power seemed to diminish when Mr Trump replaced Mr Tillerson with Mike Pompeo and named John Bolton as his new National Security Advisor.
Both men are viewed as close to Trump, and Mr Bolton is a longstanding critic of the United Nations and its work.
Scholar at the United Nations University Richard Gowan said that, like Ms Haley, Ms Nauert was likely to be one of the most prominent public articulators of Administration policy, both domestically and internationally.
“The big question is whether she will have real clout in Washington politics, as Haley did in her first year,” Mr Gowan said.
He also wondered whether Ms Nauert would be granted Cabinet status.
The past three US Ambassadors to the UN — Ms Haley, Samantha Power, and Susan Rice — were all members of the Cabinet.
Mr Gowan said if that did not happen it would be a signal the position had been downgraded.
UN-based diplomats, who feared Mr Trump might send an ideological warrior to represent him, said the Nauert appointment would be a relief.
Other Washington insiders were sceptical that Ms Nauert, who joined the State Department in her current role in April 2017, could manage the job with her lack of foreign policy experience.
Washington, DC, 3 November 2018
