US President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he is nominating State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce to serve as the United States Deputy Representative to the United Nations, a role which carries the rank of ambassador.
The President made the announcement on his Truth Social platform, describing Bruce as a “Great Patriot, Television Personality, and Bestselling Author.”
Bruce has served as the State Department’s chief spokesperson since January, when Trump appointed her shortly after taking office. Prior to that role, she had no formal foreign policy experience but built a national profile over more than two decades as a Fox News commentator and occasional guest host for Sean Hannity’s program.
She also served as president of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Organization for Women from 1990 to 1996 and is the author of several books, including “The New Thought Police”, published in 2002, in which she warned of what she called “the dangerous rise of Left-wing McCarthyism.”
As State Department spokesperson, Bruce has been a prominent defender of the administration’s foreign policy positions, including its immigration enforcement measures and its approach to the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza—issues on which Trump has pledged decisive action.
If confirmed by the Republican-led Senate, Bruce could assume her new position before the appointment of her prospective superior, Ambassador-designate Mike Waltz. Waltz’s nomination as US ambassador to the UN has faced delays.
The post of UN ambassador was initially intended for Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), but Trump withdrew her nomination in March, citing the need for the Republicans to maintain their slim majority in the House of Representatives as the reason.
Waltz was recently grilled during a Senate hearing about his use of an encrypted group chat to discuss military operations while serving as Trump’s national security adviser.
He came under fire after mistakenly adding Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine, to a Signal chat discussing an imminent US bombing of Yemen.
Trump had considered firing Waltz over the saga, but ultimately refrained from doing so, hoping to avoid giving political opponents an easy win and to preserve a sense of stability, in contrast to the chaotic personnel changes of his first term. He eventually nominated him for the position of US Ambassador to the UN.