WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced on Friday that State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert is his choice to succeed Nikki Haley as US ambassador to the United Nations.
If nominated and confirmed, Ms. Nauert would succeed Nikki Haley as the U.S. representative to the world body when her resignation takes effect at year’s end.
Mr. Trump told The Washington Times in an interview last month that Ms. Nauert was “under strong consideration” for the post, but he was evaluating other candidates.
Some White House advisers were urging the president to consider another choice, believing that Ms. Nauert’s lack of diplomatic experience would make Senate confirmation difficult.
Before joining the Trump administration in April 2017, Ms. Nauert had no experience in foreign policy or diplomacy. Her career has mostly been as a journalist, working for Fox News and ABC, then returning to Fox to become a news presenter on “The Big Story” and “Fox and Friends.”
He then announced he will nominate William Barr for the attorney general position. Barr previously served in the same position under former President George H.W. Bush.
“I want to confirm that Bill Barr, one of the most respected jurists in the country, highly respected lawyer, former attorney general under the Bush administration, a terrific man, a terrific person, a brilliant man,” Trump said as he departed the White House. “I did not know him until recently when I went through the process of looking at people and he was my first choice from day one, respected by Republicans and respected by Democrats.”
“He will be nominated for the United States attorney general and hopefully that process will go very quickly,” Trump added.
Barr previously worked at the CIA in the 1970s and served in several leadership roles at the Justice Department serving under President George H.W. Bush. He ultimately served as attorney general from 1991 through 1993. He subsequently served in several executive and leadership positions at corporations, including Verizon Communications. Barr served as a board member on CNN’s parent company, Time Warner, Inc., (now Warner Media) from 2009 until 2018.
Prior to Trump’s comments, Barr had emerged this week as a consensus candidate to succeed Jeff Sessions as attorney general, two sources familiar with Trump’s thinking told CNN on Thursday.
