The U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations advanced Mike Waltz’s nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations by a vote of 12-10 on Thursday with Democratic support, after losing a Republican vote.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) voted in favor of the former national security advisor and congressman from Florida, saying that he would be a “moderating force” within the Trump administration.
“I disagree with Mike Waltz on some issues, including his use of unclassified systems to coordinate sensitive discussions,” Shaheen stated, referring to Waltz’s involvement in adding a reporter to a Signal chat about airstrikes in Yemen.
“Mike Waltz did not represent himself to me as someone who wants to retreat from the world,” Shaheen said. “This is a quality I value in nominees.”
Shaheen also referred to the reported divide within the Trump administration between traditional Republican foreign policy hands and the so-called “restrainers,” typified by U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Elbridge Colby, under secretary of defense for policy, who favor limiting American commitments overseas in places like Ukraine.
“In a Situation Room filled with people like Vice President Vance and Under Secretary Colby, who want to retreat from the world, and like Secretary Hegseth, I think we’re better off having someone like Mike Waltz present,” she said. “That is particularly true when you consider the alternatives to Mr. Waltz as a nominee.” (Pete Hegseth is the U.S. defense secretary.)
Waltz’s nomination appeared to be in trouble on Wednesday when it was reported that Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) intended to vote against his nomination over Waltz’s views on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“When it comes to ending a war, you voted with Liz Cheney and the others to say that the president couldn’t end the war,” Paul said at Waltz’s nomination hearing earlier in July. “I just don’t understand how you could have voted for this.”
“It just worries me that you come more from the Liz Cheney wing of the party than the Donald Trump wing of the party,” Paul said.
Paul ultimately voted with every Democrat except Shaheen to oppose Waltz’s nomination. Waltz’s nomination now goes to the full Senate for confirmation.
