Trump picks Heather Nauert as next ambassador to UN

U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that he will nominate State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, succeeding outgoing Nikki Haley.

"Heather Nauert will be nominated for the ambassador to the United Nations," Trump told reporters on Friday morning before departing the White House for a conference in the state of Missouri.

Trump praised Nauert as a "very talented, very smart, very quick" person, working well with State Secretary Mike Pompeo.

Nauert, a 48-year-old former Fox News presenter, assumed her current post in April 2017. She was reportedly a "leading contender" for the ambassadorship after Haley publicly announced her resignation in October.

Following Trump's announcement, the White House Spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a tweet that she believed Nauert will be "a strong voice for the United States" at the UN.

However, picking Nauert, an Illinois native, to represent the United States at the international arena is seen as an unorthodox choice by Trump, as the veteran news presenter had little political or foreign policy-making experience before joining the State Department.

Nauert has reportedly gained the trust of Pompeo, who gave his "strong support" for her in the competition for the top U.S. diplomat post at the UN. But reporters covering the State Department complained about the falling frequency of the press briefings under Nauert.

Following the nomination, Nauert will probably face a tough Senate confirmation hearing on her qualification.

Meanwhile, experts noticed that Haley's successor will work under a circumstance largely different from Haley's days, when there were then the "nearly invisible" Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and "a practically dysfunctional National Security Council."

Haley, 46, was confirmed as the U.S. ambassador to the UN days after Trump's inauguration in January 2017. She has been seen as one of Trump's most trusted advisers.

Her resignation announcement nearly two months ago came as a surprise to many high-level administration officials. "I don't have anything set on where I want to go," the former South Carolina governor told reporters then.

Haley will remain in the post till the end of this year.