Mike Waltz told lawmakers Tuesday at his confirmation hearing to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations that he plans to make the world body “great again,” echoing President Donald Trump’s message for revamping America.
“We should have one place in the world where everyone can talk — where China, Russia, Europe and the developing world can come together and resolve conflicts,” Waltz said. “But after 80 years, it’s drifted from its core mission of peacemaking.”
Appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, it is the first time Waltz is facing lawmakers since he was ousted as national security adviser for mistakenly adding a journalist to a private Signal chat used to discuss sensitive military plans. More than an hour into the hearing, no lawmakers had mentioned the episode.
The U.N. post is the last one to be filled in Trump’s Cabinet following months of delay, including the withdrawal of the previous nominee. Waltz, a former Florida congressman, was introduced by Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Rick Scott of Florida as “a seasoned policy mind and skilled negotiator.”
“With Waltz at the helm, the U.N. will have what I regard as what should be its last chance to demonstrate its actual value to the United States,” Lee said. “Instead of progressive political virtue signaling, the Security Council has the chance to prove its value, and settling disputes and brokering deals.”
First opportunity to ask about the Signal chat
The hearing is providing senators with the first opportunity to grill Waltz over revelations in March that he added The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg to a private text chain on an unclassified messaging app that was used to discuss planning for strikes on Houthi militants in Yemen.
Waltz took responsibility even as criticism mounted against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who shared the sensitive plans in the chat that included several other high-level national security officials. Hegseth shared the same information in another Signal chat that included family, but Trump has made clear Hegseth has his support.
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Waltz was removed as national security adviser in May — replaced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio — and nominated for the U.N. role.
Trump praised Waltz in the announcement, saying he has “worked hard to put our Nation’s Interests first.”
United Nations is facing major changes
If confirmed, Waltz would arrive at the U.N. at a moment of great change. The world body is reeling from Trump’s decision to slash foreign assistance — affecting its humanitarian aid agencies — and it anticipates U.S. funding cuts to the U.N. annual budget.
Under an “America First” foreign policy realignment, the White House has asserted that “some of the U.N.’s agencies and bodies have drifted” from their founding mission and “act contrary to the interests of the United States while attacking our allies and propagating anti-Semitism.”
With America being the largest United Nations donor, cutting U.S. funding to the U.N. budget would greatly impair operations.
Facing financial instability, the U.N. has spent months shedding jobs and consolidating projects while beginning to tackle long-delayed reforms. The U.N. is also facing growing frustration over what critics describe as a lack of efficiency and power in delivering on its mandate to end conflict and prevent wars.
John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. who was also national security adviser during Trump’s first term, was critical of the current state of the U.N.
“It’s probably in the worst shape it’s been in since it was founded,” Bolton, now an outspoken Trump critic, recently told The Associated Press.
Waltz accuses UN of antisemitism
Waltz painted a similar strategy to tackling the U.N. job as the previous nominee for the post, with a focus on combating China’s influence around the globe, review U.S. funding to U.N. agencies and initiatives as well as rooting out what he called deep antisemitism within the international body.
His priorities echo Trump and Secretary of State Rubio’s larger foreign policy platform, which has sought to reshape American diplomacy and worked aggressively to shrink the size of the federal government, including recent mass dismissals at the State Department.
Trump’s first nominee, Rep. Elise Stefanik, had a confirmation hearing in January and was expected to be confirmed, but Trump abruptly withdrew her nomination in March, citing risks to the GOP’s historically slim House majority.
At the time, the loss of a mere handful of seats could have swung the House majority to Democrats and derailed their recently successful efforts to enact Trump’s sweeping agenda.
Waltz is still on the White House payroll
Waltz, whose Florida House seat was filled during a special election earlier this year, has spent the last few months on the White House payroll despite being removed as national security adviser. The latest list of White House salaries, current as of July 1, includes Waltz earning an annual salary of $195,200.
A White House official, granted anonymity to discuss personnel matters, said Waltz stayed on to “ensure a smooth and successful transition given the extreme importance of the role of NSA.”
Waltz was the first Green Beret elected to the House and easily won reelection for a fourth term in November before Trump asked him to join the administration.
Amiri reported from the United Nations. Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.
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