Trump picks Heather Nauert for UN ambassador

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he will nominate State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. If confirmed by the Senate, she would take over from Nikki Haley, who announced her resignation in October without offering details on why.

Plucked from Fox by the White House to serve as State Department spokeswoman, Nauert catapulted into the upper echelons of the agency’s hierarchy when Tillerson was fired in March and replaced with Mike Pompeo. Nauert was then appointed acting undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs and was for a time the highest-ranking woman and fourth highest-ranking official in the building. Nauert’s appointment would reinforce the link between Fox News and Trump, who has been accused of turning to the conservative-leaning channel, rather than experts, for policy advice.

Nauert was a breaking news anchor on Trump’s favorite television show, “Fox & Friends,” when she was tapped to be the face and voice of the administration’s foreign policy.

In addition, Trump on Friday nominated William Barr, a conservative lawyer who was attorney general in the administration of the late George H.W. Bush, to lead the Department of Justice.

Barr would replace Jeff Sessions, who Trump forced to resign last month amid rising pressure on the White House from the Russia collusion investigation conducted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.