The House representative was tapped by Trump to be the UN ambassador

House Representative Elise Stefanik as U.N. Ambassador: Trump taps House Rep. Stefaninckayi as Ambassador to the United Nations

I am very excited to have Chaire Stefanik join my Cabinet as Ambassador to the United Nations. Elise is an incredibly strong, tough, and smart America First fighter,” Trump said in a statement.

When Stefanik was elected to represent New York’s 21st district in 2014, she was the youngest woman elected to Congress in American history at the time. At one point, Paul Ryan was friendly with her and she worked for George W. Bush and Romney.

The nomination requires Senate confirmation, which Stefanik is expected to easily pick up. After the election, Republicans now control the Senate. Under New York state law, Gov. Kathy Hochul must call a special election within 10 days of a vacancy. The seat of Stefanik is seen as being safe by Republicans.

That brand of politics also was shown in her criticism of Trump when the leaked Access Hollywood tape came out in 2016, saying he had made “inappropriate, offensive comments.”

Source: Trump taps House Rep. Elise Stefanik as U.N. ambassador

Nikki Haley, the incoming U.S. ambassador for the United States, and Marco Rubio, the next-generation secretary of state

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was Trump’s strongest adversary during the 2024 Republican primary, served as one of Trump’s U.N. ambassadors in his first administration. Trump confirmed in a post that Haley wouldn’t be joining his administration.

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to nominate Florida Sen. Marco Rubio to serve as secretary of state, according to a source familiar with the selection. If approved, he would be the nation’s top diplomat and the first Latino to do so.

Rubio said that voters should not back Trump in 2016, saying, “Friends do not let friends vote for a con artist.” Since then, his support has only grown stronger as he endorsed the president-elect in 2020 and 2024. Rubio even helped Trump prepare for his debate against President Biden in 2020.

The nomination is a sign that when it comes to international diplomacy the incoming Trump administration will be shaped by the views of Marco Rubio, who is one of the leading voices on foreign policy. But the two have disagreed in the past over the extent to which the U.S. should exercise aggressive foreign policy measures.

Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, was first elected senator for Florida in 2010 after serving in the state house — including as speaker — for more than a decade. During his time in the Senate, he played a key role in the debates over U.S. foreign policy. As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Rubio advocated for Libyan intervention in 2011, and criticized then-President Trump in 2019 for proposing to withdraw from Syria and Afghanistan.

“We’re entering into an era of pragmatic foreign policy in which the world is rapidly changing,” Rubio said in an interview with CNN. “Adversaries are uniting — North Korea, Iran, China, Russia [are] increasingly coordinating — it’s going to require us to be very pragmatic and wise and how we invest overseas and what we do.

The military aid for Ukraine, which was approved in April, was passed despite the opposition of a block of senators who held more traditionally interventionist views.

“What we are funding here is a stalemate that needs to be brought to a conclusion,” Rubio said in opposition to military funding and in advocating for negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.

Trump and Rubio’s relationship has not always been harmonious. The two poked jabs at each other while campaigning against each other in 2016. Trump liked to call Rubio “Little Marco,” and things got topsy-turvy when Rubio made insinuations about Trump, saying, “Have you seen his hands? … You do know what they said about men with small hands? Trump said, “I guarantee you there’s no problem.”