Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) predicts that former national security adviser Mike Waltz will face a “brutal” confirmation hearing as he was removed from his post and nominated to be the Trump administration’s United Nations ambassador.
Warner joined CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, where host Jake Tapper asked about the recent shuffle in the administration, which came about after it was revealed Waltz was ousted as national security adviser following the Signal group chat scandal, among other reported tensions.
“Do you have faith in him to be U.N. ambassador?” Tapper asked.
“I think it would be a brutal confirmation hearing,” Warner replied.
Warner’s prediction is in line with other Democrats, who say Waltz will face an uphill battle trying to prove he is fit for the new position after it was reported he used Signal to message about administration activity.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) agreed with Warner, speaking on CBS News’s “Face the Nation.”
“It will be a brutal hearing,” Duckworth, a military veteran, said. “He is not qualified for the job just by nature of the fact he participated in the Signal chain. In fact, I believe everybody on that Signal chain needs to be fired, because not a single one of them spoke up and said, ‘Hey, this is inappropriate and we need to be in a secure channel.’”
Duckworth describe Waltz’s situation as “failing up” and said she would not vote for him because he is “incapable” of “handling classified information.”
Warner noted that Waltz has “at least acknowledged” there was wrongdoing in using the Signal group chat to discuss with other administration officials plans to attack Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The group conversation was revealed when Waltz mistakenly added Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor in chief of The Atlantic, to the Signal group.
While much of the scandal’s focus was on Waltz’s use of the messaging platform, scrutiny has also been directed toward Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for sharing details about the attack in the chat.
Warner also called on Hegseth to be dismissed from his position and said he would like the secretary to explain to service members and their friends the situation they would have faced had the attack plans been put in the wrong hands.
It was more recently revealed that Hegseth shared attack plans in another group chat that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer. He’s come under sharp criticism for using the platform in both instances.
“Not a day goes by that I don’t hear people’s morale is plummeting because of the lack of confidence in these leaders,” Warner said.
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