Rep. Elise Stefanik, Republican from New York, testifies on Jan. 21 earlier than the Senate Overseas Relations Committee on her nomination to be ambassador to the United Nations.
Saul Loeb/AFP through Getty Photographs
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Saul Loeb/AFP through Getty Photographs
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Who: Elise Stefanik
Nominated for: U.S. ambassador to the United Nations
You may know her from: As a member of the Home of Representatives, Stefanik was a key defender of Trump throughout the first impeachment proceedings towards him. Extra just lately, she grew to become recognized for her sharp questioning of a number of college presidents over what she described as antisemitism.
Extra about Stefanik:
- Elected to the Home of Representatives in 2014 at 30, the youngest lady elected to Congress at the moment.
- She was a reasonable Republican, who moved to the fitting, aligning herself with Trump.
What this function does: The U.S. ambassador to the U.N. is a high-profile diplomatic put up that may be a Cupboard place in some administrations. Ambassadors negotiate resolutions and converse on behalf of the U.S. on this planet physique.
When she was elected in 2014 to characterize New York’s twenty first congressional district, Elise Stefanik was the youngest lady elected to Congress on the time. She had been seen as a reasonable conservative, working for then-President George W. Bush and Rep. Paul Ryan. And he or she was important of Trump when the leaked Entry Hollywood tape got here out in 2016, saying Trump made “inappropriate, offensive comments.”
However on Tuesday, Stefanik has been going through senators’ questions in a affirmation listening to concerning the sort of U.N. ambassador she might be.
“I think we need to roll our sleeves up, deliver reforms and make sure that our dollars are going to programs within the U.N. that work, that have a basis in the rule of law, that have a basis in transparency and accountability and strength in our national security, in our partnerships,” she stated.
Stefanik stepped into the limelight in 2019, vigorously defending President Trump throughout his first time period from prices that he was withholding army help to Ukraine for political causes — a difficulty on the coronary heart of his first impeachment. Trump praised her appearances within the impeachment proceedings, calling her a “new Republican star.” She later changed Trump critic Liz Cheney because the chair of the Home Republican Convention — the fourth-ranking place in Home Republican management.
In 2024, Stefanik made headlines once more by grilling the presidents of the College of Pennsylvania, Harvard and MIT over what she described as antisemitism on school campuses amid the Israel-Hamas warfare in Gaza. Stefanik is a powerful supporter of Israel and its determination to chop off communication with and ban the U.N. company that aids Palestinians, UNRWA, from working in Israel.
That’s prone to be excessive on the agenda if she’s confirmed as ambassador to the United Nations. U.N. Secretary-Basic António Guterres says if UNRWA is pressured to cease working, then Israel could be left to make sure the vary of companies and help the U.N. physique has supplied to Palestinians for 75 years.
The U.S. ambassador to the U.N. isn’t all the time a Cupboard place. Typically Republican administrations downgrade the put up. Nevertheless, Trump bucked that development and stored the job as a Cupboard official throughout his first time period, when he named former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley for the function.
