President Donald Trump is heading to the United Nations next week for a monumental foreign policy speech to world leaders, and unless the Republican-led U.S. Senate goes into hyperdrive, he&#8217;ll do it with a Biden administration official as his UN ambassador.
Trump nominated former congressman Mike Waltz to represent the United States at the United Nations nearly four months ago, and his nomination passed out of committee — for the second time — on Wednesday morning, leaving only a full Senate vote between Waltz and confirmation. But with a packed legislative schedule and a wall of obstruction from Senate Democrats, many doubt the vote will take place in time to have him ready to go.
If Waltz isn&#8217;t confirmed, Trump&#8217;s speech will be carried out with <a href="https://usun.usmission.gov/ambassador-dorothy-camille-shea/">Dorothy Shea</a>, who was nominated by President Joe Biden and confirmed last summer, as the acting ambassador. Jason Miller, one of Trump&#8217;s closest advisors outside of the White House, says that should be unacceptable, and Republicans should make his confirmation a top priority.
&#8220;Schumer and the Democrats have intentionally obstructed Senate action on the president’s nominees, the majority leader has the power to keep the Senate in session to assure that Mike Waltz and the president’s team are seated at the United Nations ahead of next week’s meeting of the General Assembly — and he should do so,” Miller told The Daily Wire.
Asked about the Waltz nomination, the White House reiterated the urgency to have his team in place.
“President Trump has been clear that he wants all of his nominees confirmed as quickly as possible,” a White House official told The Daily Wire.
Republican Majority Leader John Thune&#8217;s office wouldn&#8217;t comment specifically on efforts to confirm Waltz by Monday, but said it shares Trump&#8217;s urgency.
“Not only do we share the White House’s goal of confirming the president’s team as quickly as possible, we’ve demonstrated it — confirming the Cabinet at the fastest pace in 20 years and recently breaking the Democrats’ historic nominations blockade, which will allow us to begin clearing the mounting backlog,” a spokeswoman for Thune said.
Thune has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-republicans-implement-plan-to-push-through-federal-nominees-as-shutdown-looms">implemented plans</a> to break the Democrat blockade. His procedural change allows for an unlimited number of federal nominations to be approved “en bloc” — simultaneously — so long as they were not judicial or cabinet-level positions.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-republicans-implement-plan-to-push-through-federal-nominees-as-shutdown-looms">Senate Republicans Implement Plan To Push Through Federal Nominees As Shutdown Looms</a>
But this doesn&#8217;t apply to the United Nations post, the most prominent unfilled cabinet post in the Trump administration. It was originally slated to be filled by New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who stepped aside during the confirmation process to return to Congress and bolster the Republican majority. Waltz was tapped by Trump in May after a stint as the president&#8217;s top foreign policy advisor in the White House.
Trump&#8217;s appearance comes as he works to negotiate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, as well as an end to Israel&#8217;s war on Hamas in Gaza. Trump has been a juggernaut on the world stage, and has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his work to negotiate the end of conflicts around the world.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pax-trumpana-trumps-resume-for-winning-the-nobel-peace-prize">Pax Trumpana: Trump’s Nobel Peace Prize Resume</a>
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has taken the lead on the United Nations ahead of the general assembly. Rubio <a href="http://dailywire.com/news/rubio-bars-mahmoud-abbas-from-entering-u-s-ahead-of-palestinian-statehood-push-at-un">blocked Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas</a> from entering the country, in anticipation of a push for Palestinian statehood at the gathering of world leaders.
Republicans almost certainly have the votes to confirm Waltz when the vote takes place. His nomination was delayed by Democrats, who managed to get Waltz and a handful of other nominees sent back to committee. He was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee despite a &#8220;no&#8221; vote from Republican senator Rand Paul.
Waltz has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/make-the-un-great-again-waltz-challenges-antisemitism-china-favoritism-at-united-nations">pledged</a> to &#8220;Make the UN Great Again,&#8221; if confirmed.

President Trump Meets With NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte In The Oval Office Of The White House

Trump Heads To The UN Next Week. Will He Have His UN Ambassador?

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is taking further action against the 50 former intelligence officials who falsely suggested Hunter Biden&#8217;s laptop was &#8220;part of a Russian disinformation campaign,&#8221; instructing agencies to also ban those individuals from stepping foot in secure U.S. government facilities, according to a memo obtained by The Daily Wire.
The Jan. 29 cabinet memorandum, first obtained by The Daily Wire, expands Trump&#8217;s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/holding-former-government-officials-accountablefor-election-interference-and-improper-disclosure-of-sensitive-governmental-information/">day-one executive order</a>, which revoked the security clearance for the 50 individuals. Sent &#8220;on behalf of the President,&#8221; it orders the country&#8217;s top national security agencies to &#8220;revoke unescorted access to secure U.S. Government facilities from the 50 former intelligence officials named in the Executive Order.&#8221;
&#8220;These individuals no longer possess a need to access secure facilities, and as outlined in the Executive Order, do not have the appropriate security clearances to access classified information,&#8221; the memo states.
Included in the list of individuals are prominent members of the intelligence community, including former CIA directors John Brennan, Michael Hayden, and Leon Panetta, who also at one time served as Secretary of Defense. It also includes the former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and John Bolton, the longtime diplomat who most recently served under Trump as his national security advisor.
<div id="attachment_869259" style="width: 607px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-869259" class="wp-image-869259 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/Screenshot-2025-01-31-at-10.59.43-AM.png" alt="" width="597" height="391" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/Screenshot-2025-01-31-at-10.59.43-AM.png 597w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/Screenshot-2025-01-31-at-10.59.43-AM-300x196.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 597px) 100vw, 597px" />Image from cabinet memorandum issued by White House / The Daily Wire</div>
The memo was sent to the Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Director of National Intelligence, and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. It was also distributed to the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, who is tasked with informing any other &#8220;clearance-granting U.S. Government entity&#8221; of the ban &#8220;to ensure compliance.&#8221;
The action comes as part of the Trump administration&#8217;s effort to weed out government officials who participated in political weaponization of their power. His initial executive order charged that &#8220;the signatories willfully weaponized the gravitas of the Intelligence Community to manipulate the political process and undermine our democratic institutions.&#8221;
Trump on Friday ordered several FBI officials who served in the prior administration to resign, telling them they will be fired if they choose not to. Trump&#8217;s pick to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, faced a contentious confirmation hearing on Thursday, and pledged to &#8220;de-weaponize&#8221; the intelligence community.
“America deserves a better brand of justice and I’m going to give it to them,” Patel said in the hearing.
The <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/19/hunter-biden-story-russian-disinfo-430276">initial letter from the intelligence officials</a> came in October 2020, weeks before the presidential election, after the <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/10/14/email-reveals-how-hunter-biden-introduced-ukrainian-biz-man-to-dad/">New York Post reported</a> on emails on Hunter Biden&#8217;s laptop. The story stated that the laptop was left by the former president&#8217;s drug-addicted son at a computer repair shop. The letter, however, said the story had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation,” and this claim was used as an excuse to censor the reporting ahead of the election. The laptop and the emails on it proved to be authentic.
Trump&#8217;s newly confirmed CIA Director, John Ratcliffe, was Director of National Intelligence at the time, and from the beginning <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/10/19/russian-disinformation-not-behind-biden-emails-dni-ratcliffe-says/3712484001/">stated that there was no evidence</a> of Russian involvement.
The full memo obtained by The Daily Wire can be <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/Cabinet-memo-intel-Daily-Wire-WM.pdf">read here</a>.

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Trump Heads To The UN Next Week. Will He Have His UN Ambassador?

EXCLUSIVE: Trump Bans Intel Officials Who Pushed Russian Disinfo Hoax From Federal Buildings