OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
4:50 PM – Friday, September 19, 2025

The Senate has confirmed Mike Waltz as President Donald Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations (UN) days before the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

Waltz’s (R-Fla.) nomination was pushed back for months due to criticism from Senate Democrats. In the end, he was confirmed on Friday in a 47-43 vote.

The confirmation will allow Waltz to attend the assembly, an annual dialogue featuring leaders of the 193-member states for a week of diplomacy commencing on Tuesday, September 23^rd. Top issues are expected to be the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Palestine wars.

Waltz was previously dismissed for the position due to a controversy when he mistakenly added Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of The Atlantic, to a group chat full of administration officials discussing planned military strikes against Yemen.

The White House declared the case “closed” in April, but some Democrats still criticized him, calling him “amateurish,” and promised a “brutal” confirmation hearing for the UN position.

Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was the one Republican to vote against Waltz’s confirmation, citing his previous actions in office, including his vote in 2020 to constrain Trump’s ability to bring troops home from Afghanistan.

Overall, the Senate determined Waltz to be qualified for the position, given his long history of service to the United States.

Waltz is a retired U.S. Army colonel and Green Beret, having started his service in 1996. In 2019, he filled Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s (R-Fla.) seat in Florida’s 6^th Congressional district. He endorsed Trump for the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries before being selected as Trump’s U.S. National Security Advisor.

Waltz’s appointment is seen as strategically important for the Trump administration’s stance on U.N. policies and global diplomacy.

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