CNN
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President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik to be ambassador to the United Nations.
“I am honored to appoint Speaker Elise Stefanik to my Cabinet as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Elise is an incredibly strong, tough, and smart America First fighter,” President Trump said in a statement. He confirmed a CNN report on Sunday that Ku had been offered the role.
The New York congressman, the fourth-ranking Republican in the House, is a strong ally of the president-elect and a major fundraiser for the Republican Party.
CNN has reached out to Stefanik for comment.
Stefanik, the House Republican conference chair, has long been one of Trump’s staunchest allies in Congress. Her aggressive performance during the 2019 impeachment hearings made her a “star of the Republican Party,” as Trump himself said at the time. And he again supported Trump after his 2020 presidential defeat, opposing the House’s certification of President Joe Biden’s victory and promoting Trump’s false claims of election fraud.
But she wasn’t always President Trump’s biggest fan. The New York Republican, who was the youngest female congressman in history when she was first elected in 2014, voted against the 2017 tax bill, one of his signature victories in Congress. A self-described “voice of independence” who has demonstrated a moderate personality, she previously earned high praise from former House Speaker Paul Ryan, who told Time magazine that Stefanik was “a builder and a builder.” , no small feat in a time when so much is going on.” Politics is about tearing people apart. ” She worked for Ryan during Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign.
From the 2016 presidential campaign to the early days of Trump’s presidency, the former Trump skeptic and sometimes outright critic turned from detractor to defender. Part of that movement, she explained, is due to Trump’s popularity in upstate New York.
When Trump was seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, she was one of the few running mates and publicly challenged for the role. She also told CNN earlier this year that she was “proud to be a top surrogate mother” and would “proudly serve in a future Trump administration.”
Stefanik replaced then-Rep. Liz Cheney became chair of the Republican conference in May 2021 after Wyoming Republicans criticized President Trump’s election lies. She serves on the Armed Services Committee and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, among others. Stefanik made headlines last year when he campaigned to oust university leaders who failed to properly condemn anti-Semitism during House hearings on the issue.
President Trump said in a social media post Saturday that he “does not intend to re-invite” Nikki Haley, who served as ambassador to the United Nations during his first administration. Haley, a former South Carolina governor, then ran a tough primary campaign against Trump, but dropped out after a few months and ultimately endorsed Trump.
This story has been updated with additional developments and information.
CNN’s Gregory Krieg, Andrew Kaczynski, M Steck, Carnita Iyer and Jack Forrest contributed to this report.
