Trump pulls Stefanik’s nomination for UN envoy due to GOP’s slim House majority
US president says there ‘are others that can do a good job at the United Nations,’ but doesn’t yet name a replacement for vocally pro-Israel candidate
US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he has pulled his nomination of Elise Stefanik to serve as ambassador in the UN in order for her to remain in the House, where Republicans hold a razor-thin majority.
“With a very tight Majority, I don’t want to take a chance on anyone else running for Elise’s seat,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“There are others that can do a good job at the United Nations. Therefore, Elise will stay in Congress, rejoin the House Leadership Team, and continue to fight for our amazing American People,” Trump added.
He did not immediately name a replacement for the position.
Republicans won both the House and Senate in the November 2024 election that returned Trump to the White House, but they have a very tight lead in the lower chamber.
They control the House by 218 seats to 213, giving them just a tiny margin and making it difficult to pass key legislation.
Two crucial special elections will be held on April 1 to fill the seats vacated by Mike Waltz, who is now Trump’s national security advisor, and Matt Gaetz, who the president tapped to become attorney general but who backed out of consideration following misconduct allegations.
US House Speaker Mike Johnson praised Stefanik on Thursday.
“It is well known Republicans have a razor-thin House majority, and Elise’s agreement to withdraw her nomination will allow us to keep one of the toughest, most resolute members of our Conference in place to help drive forward President Trump’s America First policies,” he said in a social media post.
Stefanik was the last cabinet-level Trump nominee who had not been confirmed. She was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, with some Democratic votes, on January 30 and had been expected to be easily approved by the full Senate
Stefanik made headlines in 2023 for her tough questioning of university presidents during a hearing on antisemitism on college campuses. The lawmaker has quickly become a fan-favorite among establishment, pro-Israel groups.
At her confirmation hearing in January, Stefanik vowed to use her role to combat “antisemitic rot” at the UN and said that US tax dollars “should not be complicit in propping up entities that are counter to American interests, antisemitic, or engaging in fraud, corruption or terrorism.”
At the annual Anti-Defamation League summit in New York City earlier this month, she drew applause for her calls to further crack down on campus antisemitism, deport foreign students who engage in antisemitism and support of terror, and pressure the United Nations. She also claimed that the October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel “would never have happened” under Trump, drawing boos from the audience.
Trump said in February that the UN has “great potential and… we’ll continue to go along with it, but they got to get their act together.” The UN pushed back at the time, saying Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had worked tirelessly to implement reforms.
Since returning to office on January 20, Trump has stopped US engagement with the UN Human Rights Council, extended a halt to funding for the Palestinian relief agency UNRWA and ordered a review of the UN cultural agency UNESCO. He has also announced US plans to quit the Paris climate deal and the World Health Organization.
