Dems: Waltz faces 'brutal' hearing for U.N. position
By: Francesca Chambers
USA Today
WASHINGTON - Two Democratic senators said former national security adviser Mike Waltz should expect a "brutal" confirmation hearing for United Nations ambassador and predicted harsh questioning from lawmakers after he sued Signal to discuss highly sensitive details regarding a planned U.S. military strike in March. [2025]
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President Donald Trump said May 1 [2025] that he was removing Waltz as national security adviser and making him U.N. ambassador, a position traditionally requiring a Senate vote and a hearing before its Foreign Relations Committee.
..... "I think it will be a brutal confirmation hearing," Senate Intelligence ranking member Mark Warner, D-Virginia, said on CNN. "I think he's going to have tough questions, not only form Democrats but from Republicans."
..... Senator Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat on the foreign relations panel, concurred on CBS.
..... "It will be a brutal, brutal hearing. He's not qualified for the job, just by nature of the fact that he participated in this Signal chain," Duckworth said.
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Waltz's inadvertent inclusion of a journalist in a text chain, in which members of the president's Cabinet discussed an attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen before it happened, has dogged the administration since it became public in late march. [2025] The administration has denied that classified information was shared.
..... But that had done little to quell the push from Democrats OT oust key players in the conversation, including Sectary of Defense Pet Hegseth, who shared details of the attack in the encrypted but commercially available application.
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Trump did not immediately fire anyone. Last week [05/01/2025] Trump announced hat he was moving Waltz out of the national security adviser position and named him U. N. ambassador nominee without explanation. Trump said secretary of State Marco Rubio would simultaneously serve in his current Cabinet role and as White house national security adviser for the foreseeable future.
..... Trump pulled his previous U.N. nominee, GOP Representative Ekise Stefanik, who was expected to be easily confirmed, over concerns about Republicans' slim majority in the House of Representatives. Waltz is one of several Republicans who resigned from Congress to join the Trump administration.
..... Waltz admitted to making a mistake" with the Signal chat and took "full responsibility" in an interview with Fox News afterward.
..... Warner said in his May 4 [2025] intervene on CNN that Hegseth should have been fired. Hegseth reportedly shared details of the attack in a second group chat that included his wife, his brother, and his lawyer.
..... Duckworth told CNN that everyone involved in the Waltz-crated chat, which included Trump Cabinet members and top White House advisers, should be dismissed from their potions.
..... "I think everybody on that Signal chain need to be fired, because not a single one of them spoke up and said, 'Hey, this is inappropriat4e. We should be in a secure channel," she said.
..... vice President JD Vance argued in an interview of Fox News that Waltz's new role could be considered a promotion. Trump said in an interview that aired May 4 [2025] on NBC that Waltz's removal as national security adviser was not meant as a punishment.