When Fox News presenter Heather Nauert joined the US state department in 2017, she was hardly the first journalist to move into government communications, nor the first employee of the right-leaning TV news channel to take a post in Donald Trump’s administration. Given his avowed love for her morning show Fox & Friends, her appointment was not one of the more surprising the US president had made.
Not so for the new job Mr Trump has picked her to do.
If she is confirmed by Congress, Ms Nauert will be catapulted from chastising reporters for their “fake news” in a windowless briefing room at the Department of State to channelling Mr Trump’s “America First” worldview to foreign diplomats as US ambassador to the UN.
Her nomination for that job — “the second most important foreign policy position in the country” after secretary of state, according to Stephen Schlesinger, author of a book on the UN — has divided opinion.
Critics have raised questions over the depth and breadth of her experience in the diplomatic world, after a near-20 year career at Fox News and ABC as a correspondent and latterly as a co-host of Fox & Friends.
Moreover, her appointment comes at a tumultuous time for US foreign policy. Mr Trump’s recent decision to pull troops from Syria, against the advice of some of his closest advisers, startled US partners across the globe and shook their faith in the country’s promises to its allies.
Proponents describe her as hard-working, unafraid to ask questions and able to pick up skills quickly, who has taken on additional responsibilities since joining the state department.
“She has an enormous capacity to learn quickly, and that’s what people underestimate,” said Samantha Carl-Yoder, a former department official who worked closely with Ms Nauert.
Both her critics and her advocates, including those currently working at the state department, characterise her as a Trump loyalist who intuitively understands the president’s foreign policy positions, and is close to secretary of state Mike Pompeo.
That marks her out from Nikki Haley, the departing UN ambassador, who was previously the Republican governor of South Carolina. Ms Haley had emerged as an outspoken mainstream conservative voice in a non-traditional administration who often diverged from official policy.
While Ms Nauert was kept at arms length by Mr Trump’s first secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, she enjoys a high level of access to Mr Pompeo, frequently travelling overseas and attending meetings alongside him.
Mr Pompeo has been keen to praise Ms Nauert ahead of an as-yet unscheduled congressional confirmation hearing for her ambassadorship. He told the Financial Times that she was a “vital” member of his team and a “critical voice” in shaping state department strategy.
“She manages a staff of nearly 1,000, and more than a $1bn budget and has spearheaded our department’s efforts to combat disinformation abroad,” he said. “There is no question that she has the experience to lead the US mission to the United Nations.”
Ms Carl-Yoder said the close relationship between Ms Nauert, Mr Pompeo and Mr Trump would bring “cohesiveness” between the UN mission and the state department. “She will get on the phone to Pompeo,” Ms Carl-Yoder said. “She also has a strong relationship with the president, which can’t be underestimated.”
Critics have contrasted Ms Nauert with the august roll-call of previous UN ambassadors — typically career diplomats, academics or politicians — that includes George HW Bush, who was widely praised as a talented diplomat, along with Richard Holbrooke, Susan Rice and Samantha Power.
Nicholas Burns, a former state department spokesperson and now a Harvard professor, said that while her time at the department would be “good preparation”, Ms Nauert would now need to go beyond simply delivering Mr Trump’s script.
“The UN is a boxing ring, and you are boxing and jousting with the Russian and Chinese ambassadors,” Mr Burns said. “The Russian and Chinese ambassadors are career diplomats, and they have black belts in diplomacy. She is going to have to be able to debate them unscripted, and win, and I hope she can do that.”
While all US presidents nominate political allies or donors to choice ambassadorships, including to Japan, the UK and France, Mr Trump has done it more frequently than other presidents. Ms Nauert’s appointment fits into this trend.
Just over half of Mr Trump’s 136 ambassadorial appointments have gone to political allies, with career diplomats making up the balance, according to the American Foreign Service Association, which tracks political appointees.
Preceding presidents, including Barack Obama, George W Bush, Bill Clinton and George HW Bush, all gave just under a third of their positions to political appointees, according to AFSA data.
Mr Burns said Ms Nauert would need to have to full confidence of the president to succeed. “A lot will depend on whether or not the White House and her superiors at State will allow her to go beyond scripted statements,” he said. “I think they will.”
