Mike Waltz grilled over Signal chat during confirmation hearing for UN role

Just over two months after being ousted as national security adviser, Mike Waltz faced lawmakers on Tuesday during a confirmation hearing to be US ambassador to the UN, telling them that he planned to make the world body “great again”.

“We should have one place in the world where everyone can talk – where China, Russia, Europe and the developing world can come together and resolve conflicts,” Waltz told the Senate foreign relations committee about the UN. “But after 80 years, it’s drifted from its core mission of peacemaking.”

On 1 May, Waltz was pushed out as national security adviser and replaced by Marco Rubio after it was revealed that Waltz mistakenly adding a journalist to a private Signal chat used to discuss planning for strikes on Houthi militants in Yemen. On Monday, the Associated press reported that he had spent the last few months on the White House payroll, earning an annual salary of $195,200.

During Tuesday’s hearing, it took more than one hour for a lawmaker to bring up the Signal chat controversy.

“I was hoping to hear from you that you had some sense of regret over sharing what was very sensitive, timely information about a military strike on a commercially available app,” said the Democratic senator Chris Coons of Delaware.

“We both know Signal is not an appropriate and secure means of communicating highly sensitive information,” he added.

Waltz responded that the chat met the administration’s cybersecurity standards, that “no classified information was shared”, and that the military was still conducting an ongoing investigation. He added that he and Coons “have a fundamental disagreement” about concerns over the situation.

The New Jersey senator Cory Booker accused Waltz of lying about how a journalist was added to the chat.

At the time, Waltz took responsibility even as criticism mounted against the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, who shared the sensitive plans in the chat that included several other high-level national security officials. Hegseth shared the same information in another Signal chat that included family, but Trump has made clear Hegseth has his support.

The UN post is the last one to be filled in Trump’s cabinet following months of delay, including the withdrawal of the previous nominee. Waltz, a former Florida congressman, was introduced by Senators Mike Lee of Utah and Rick Scott of Florida as “a seasoned policy mind and skilled negotiator”.

“With Waltz at the helm, the UN will have what I regard as what should be its last chance to demonstrate its actual value to the United States,” Lee said. “Instead of progressive political virtue signaling, the security council has the chance to prove its value, and settling disputes and brokering deals.”

When nominating Waltz for the UN role, Trump praised him, saying he had “worked hard to put our Nation’s Interests first”.

Trump’s first nominee, the New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik, had a confirmation hearing in January and was expected to be confirmed, but Trump abruptly withdrew her nomination in March, citing risks to the GOP’s historically slim House majority.

If confirmed, Waltz would arrive at the UN at a moment of great change. The world body is reeling from Trump’s decision to slash foreign assistance – affecting its humanitarian aid agencies – and it anticipates US funding cuts to the UN annual budget.

“It’s worth remembering, despite the cuts, the US is by far the most generous nation in the world,” said Waltz, responding to concerns that the administration’s cuts to global programs hurt US global influence.

Waltz added that some UN-funded research and projects were anti-American and received input from some member states, which the administration considers adversaries.