Trump says former Israel envoy Friedman, 30 others interested in UN envoy vacancy
Nomination of Rep. Elise Stefanik, who made headlines with antisemitism hearings, was pulled to preserve Republican majority in US House
US President Donald Trump said Monday that his former ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, has expressed interest in becoming the next US ambassador to the United Nations, after Trump withdrew the nomination of Rep. Elise Stefanik to maintain her seat in the House, where Republicans have a narrow majority.
“We have a lot of people that have asked about it, and would like to do it — David Friedman, Richard Grenell and maybe 30 other people,” Trump told reporters after signing executive orders in the Oval Office.
“Everyone loves that position. That’s a star-making position, and so we’ll see what happens. But we have a lot of people that are interested in going to the United Nations, as you can imagine,” Trump said.
Friedman wielded considerable influence from Jerusalem during the previous Trump administration and was said to have vied for a top spot in the second administration. However, Trump has held off on appointing the former envoy, who criticized the president after he dined with antisemite Kanye West in 2022.
Friedman went on to endorse Trump’s reelection and has been one of his most vocal advocates.
Grenell said on Thursday he is a “hard no” on the UN post.
“This is not something that I want to do. I’ve got plenty to do,” said Grenell, who served as ambassador to Germany during Trump’s first term.
Grenell currently serves as Trump’s envoy for special missions and head of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In Trump’s first term, he also brokered a diplomatic deal between Serbia and Kosovo and became America’s first openly gay cabinet-level official as acting director of national intelligence.
Republicans, who control the House by 218 seats to 213, are said to be concerned that their tight lead may be further eroded following special elections being held Tuesday to fill two vacant seats.
Stefanik is a vocally pro-Israel Republican who was reelected last year, winning 62 percent of the vote over her Democratic opponent. She 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 pro-Israel groups.
She 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. At her confirmation hearing, 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.”
Stairway to the stars?
The UN ambassador position can be a stepping stone to further success. Previous US ambassadors to the UN were elevated to senior cabinet posts, including former secretary of state Madeleine Albright, secretary of energy Bill Richardson and national security adviser John Bolton.
Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, who served as representative to the UN at the beginning of Trump’s first term, said in her memoir that she took the post as a way to gain direct access to Trump, but they later had a falling out. She resigned after two years in the post and then ran against him in the 2024 presidential election. On the campaign trail, he slammed her as a “globalist” and said shortly after his election that he would not invite her to join his administration.
