Senate Democrats plan to hammer former National Security Adviser Mike Waltz later this morning over Signalgate and much more during the former GOP lawmaker’s confirmation hearing to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Democrats, led by ranking member Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), plan to use Waltz’s nomination to make a broader case against the Trump administration’s foreign policy moves, from foreign aid cuts to State Department firings.
Shaheen even plans to praise Waltz for making the case that President Donald Trump’s proposed cuts to U.N. funding are misguided and will cede global influence to China.
“The situation at the United Nations is especially alarming,” Shaheen will say, according to prepared remarks shared with us. “Mr. Waltz, with your past support for Ukraine and clear-eyed view of threats like China, I hope you will push back on the administration’s early missteps and some of your more misguided colleagues like Secretary [Pete] Hegseth.”
The role Waltz is being nominated for is traditionally a Cabinet-level job, so the hearing is a rare opportunity for Democrats to lay out their case in a more high-profile setting. And it comes as the Senate is considering a $9.4 billion rescissions package this week, most of which centers on huge cuts to foreign aid.
Democrats will note, as they did in a recent SFRC report, that the Chinese Communist Party is already filling gaps created by a pullback of U.S. soft power, a key national security component.
Shaheen will warn that with the United States becoming more isolationist, international organizations will become increasingly dependent on China.
Other Democrats are certain to press Waltz on his role in Signalgate. Waltz and other top administration officials – including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth – discussed sensitive military planning, including U.S. airstrikes against the Houthis, on the encrypted messaging app Signal. The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg was accidentally added to the Signal chat.
Waltz, a former House Republican from Florida, lost his job as Trump’s national security adviser over the incident. Trump later tapped Waltz to serve as the top American envoy to the United Nations after the president withdrew Rep. Elise Stefanik’s (R-N.Y.) nomination for the role.
The Defense Department’s inspector general has been investigating Signalgate, which could give Waltz an out from answering questions about it directly.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, plans on pressing Waltz about it. Duckworth said Waltz’s nomination makes clear he’s “failing up.”
“Waltz, Hegseth and every other official who was included in this group chat should be fired — not promoted,” Duckworth said.
