UNITED STATES
United States President Donald Trump’s pick for Ambassador to the United Nations, Heather Nauert, has withdrawn from selection.
Her decision means the president has to start searching again for a successor to Nikki Haley, who quit at the end of the year.
Four leading contenders, included two current US Ambassadors, have emerged as contenders for a job that has been steadily diminished by a president who routinely spurns multilateralism.
Ms Nauert (pictured), the State Department spokeswoman and former Fox News anchor, cited strains on her family as reports emerged of a potential problem in her background regarding the employment of a nanny who was legally in the United States but not authorised to work.
The top contenders include the current Ambassador to Canada and wife to a prominent Republican fundraiser and billionaire coal executive, Kelly Craft; the Ambassador to Germany and former spokesman at the UN for then-Ambassador John Bolton, Richard Grenell; a partner at Goldman Sachs and former senior member of Trump’s national security staff, Dina Powell, and a former Republican Senate candidate in Michigan and Army veteran, John James.
Mr Grenell, the favourite for the job, has caused controversy in Berlin by urging German companies to halt business with Iran and expressing a desire to ‘empower’ European conservatives — breaking with the tradition of foreign diplomats remaining neutral in domestic politics abroad.
Ms Craft’s name emerged following her positioning in Ottawa after the gruelling trade negotiations on the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Ms Powell’s name was first floated last year after Ms Haley announced her resignation, but at that time, she turned down the job offer. Mr James, who lost a Senate bid in Michigan in 2018, is still seen as a rising star in the Republican political landscape, though he lacks the diplomatic credentials past UN ambassadors have had.
Washington, 21 February, 2019
