Trump's UN envoy pick Heather Nauert withdraws from consideration

Heather Nauert, the US State Department spokesperson, who Trump had tapped to be the country's next ambassador to the UN, has announced that she has withdrawn from consideration.

Trump is expected to announce a new nominee soon, the State Department said. Nauert says she made the decision "in the best interest of [her] family," which has endured two "grueling" months since her nomination. "Serving in the Administration for the past two years has been one of the highest honors of my life," Nauert's statement says.

Trump had announced he would nominate Nauert in early December, but never formally finalized the nomination with the Senate. Nauert was slated to succeed Nikki Haley, who stepped down on the last day of 2018. Haley's duties at the UN have meanwhile been assumed by Deputy Ambassador Jonathan Cohen, a career diplomat confirmed for the post in September last year.

Trump’s pick of Nauert for ambassador has been a source of criticism due to her lack of experience and qualifications for the job, the absence of which she has demonstrated repeatedly in her previous position as spokesperson. Nauert, a former Fox News anchor, has become known for a series of baffling and outright incoherent statements while justifying American foreign policy. She once stunned the White House press room by turning the anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy during the WWII into a pretext to celebrate the US’ “long history” with Germany.

Nauert, save all her flaws, has mastered the art of fanning Russophobia, liberally using it in place of hard proof as needed. She once said that “Russia has lots of tentacles” when blaming Moscow for the poisoning of double agent Sergei Skripal in the UK.

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