Ex-Fox News host Heather Nauert withdraws as Donald Trump’s pick for UN ambassador as Jamaican nanny issue emerges in background check
- Trump had announced in December he would nominate Nauert for the UN position to replace Nikki Haley, who resigned at the end of 2018.
- Suspicion later mounted that her nomination was running into trouble because the White House never formally submitted her name for Senate confirmation
US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said she was withdrawing from consideration as President Donald Trump’s nominee to be ambassador to the United Nations.
Nauert’s nomination began to falter after the White House was alerted to a problem in her background: she had in the past employed an immigrant nanny who was in the US legally but wasn’t authorised to work, according to two people familiar with the matter.
She was a Jamaican national employed by Nauert and her husband 10 years ago. The Nauerts paid her salary in cash. When they discovered she was not paying taxes, they insisted the tax bill be paid, a person familiar with Nauert’s situation said.
The statement from Nauert on Saturday night didn’t acknowledge the issue with her nanny or any other specific problem with her nomination.
Nauert’s nanny issue became politically untenable - and would have likely come out in her confirmation hearing - given that halting illegal migration was a centrepiece of Trump’s campaign and has animated his fight to build a wall on the border with Mexico.
A day before Nauert withdrew, Trump declared a national emergency to secure more money for the proposed wall, after Congress approved only about US$1.4 billion in a spending deal.
“I am grateful to President Trump and Secretary Pompeo for the trust they placed in me for considering me for the position of US Ambassador to the United Nations,” Nauert said in the statement.
“However, the past two months have been gruelling for my family and therefore it is in the best interest of my family that I withdraw my name from consideration.”
Nauert was expected to face a thorny confirmation hearing given her lack of diplomatic or government experience and the likelihood that the former Fox News anchor would be asked to answer for the Trump administration’s scorn for international bodies, including the UN.
In a speech in Brussels in December, Pompeo made his doubts about the organisation clear, asking, “Does it continue to serve its mission faithfully?”
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Trump began discussing potential new candidates for the UN post Saturday evening with his advisers, according to one person familiar with the matter.
Other potential nominees had earlier included former White House aide Dina Powell, ambassador to Canada Kelly Craft, former US Senate candidate John James of Michigan and ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell.
Trump had said in early December that he planned to nominate Nauert, 49, to replace Nikki Haley as UN ambassador.
Suspicion later mounted that her nomination was running into trouble because the White House never formally submitted her name for Senate confirmation, even after Haley resigned at year end.
State Department officials insisted there was nothing unusual in that delay, arguing that Attorney General William Barr’s nomination went more smoothly because he had already been confirmed once, in 1991.
They also blamed the 35-day partial government shutdown and the complexity of the vetting process.
While Nauert struggled under former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who kept her blocked from his inner circle, she built a rapport with current Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, who came to trust her as a reliable voice and advocate for Trump’s agenda.
The State Department declined to say whether Nauert would return to her job as the agency’s spokesperson, but a comment from Pompeo included in the statement announcing her withdrawal suggested she wouldn’t.
“Heather Nauert has performed her duties as a senior member of my team with unequaled excellence,” he said.
“I wish Heather nothing but the best in all of her future endeavours and know that she will continue to be a great representative of this nation in whatever role she finds herself.”
Additional reporting by The Washington Post
