The Senate confirmed the last member of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet on Friday after months of delay from Senate Democrats.
Lawmakers confirmed Mike Waltz to be Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations on a bipartisan 47-45 vote. Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., crossed the aisle to confirm him.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was the lone Republican to vote against his confirmation — he also voted against Waltz’s advancing out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
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Waltz’s confirmation ends the near nine-month gap where the U.S. was without a representative at the U.N., and it comes as the organization gears up for its General Assembly in New York City next week.
Waltz, who is a retired Army National Guard colonel and former Green Beret, previously served as a House Republican from Florida before being tapped to serve as Trump’s national security advisor.
However, he was dismissed from his position at the National Security Council following the “Signalgate” controversy, where Waltz added a journalist to a group chat with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Vice President JD Vance and others as they discussed strikes in Yemen.
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Waltz took responsibility for the blunder and told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham at the time, “It’s embarrassing. We’re going to get to the bottom of it.”
Despite the hiccup, Trump tapped Waltz in May to be the U.S. ambassador to the U.N.
The move came after he subbed out Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., from the position. At the time, Trump cited concerns that losing her from the House would make it difficult to pass legislation, particularly his “big, beautiful bill,” given the GOP’s razor-thin majority in the lower chamber.
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Still, Waltz was scrutinized by Senate Democrats during his confirmation hearing in July, where lawmakers accused the former House Republican of making an “amateurish” move for including a journalist into a sensitive conversation. Waltz pushed back that there was no classified information shared in the chat.
During the hearing, Waltz advocated for reforms at the U.N. and argued that “we should have one place in the world where everyone can talk.”
“Where China, Russia, Europe, the developing world, can come together and resolve conflicts,” he said. “But after 80 years, it’s drifted from its core mission of peacemaking.”
