The Latest: Mike Waltz tells lawmakers he plans to make UN ‘great again’

Mike Waltz told lawmakers Tuesday at his confirmation hearing to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations that he plans to make the world body “great again,” echoing President Donald Trump’s message for revamping America.

Appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Waltz faced lawmakers for the first time since he was ousted as national security adviser for mistakenly adding a journalist to a private Signal chat used to discuss sensitive military plans. But it took more than an hour into the hearing for a lawmaker to bring it up.

Waltz has spent the last few months on the White House payroll despite being removed as national security adviser. The latest list of White House salaries, current as of July 1, includes Waltz earning an annual salary of $195,200.

Here’s the latest:

Trump pushed back on the idea that waiting 50 days to impose sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine is too long and suggested that an even more abbreviated timeframe would be sufficient.

“I don’t think 50 days is very long and it could be shorter than that,” he said.

The president said the attorney general has “handled it very well” and said it’s up to Bondi whether to release any more records related to the sex traffic investigation of Epstein.

He said Bondi gave him “a very quick briefing” about the matter. When asked by a reporter if the attorney general told Trump whether his name appeared in any of the records, he said, “No, no.”

Trump said of Bondi, “whatever she thinks is credible, she should release.”

The president also said he likes FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, who has reportedly clashed internally with Bondi over the issue. Trump didn’t say more about Bongino.

The Education Department is handing off the administration of its workforce development programs to the Department of Labor, part of the Trump administrations plan to wind down the federal education agency.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced the interagency agreement on Tuesday, a day after the Supreme Court cleared the way for the administration to move ahead with its plan to dismantle the department.

The Associated Press reported Monday that the department had recently struck a deal to outsource the management of several grant programs for workforce training and adult education to the Department of Labor.

The Education Department said the shift streamlines federal workforce programs, the majority of which are already administered by the Department of Labor.

The department on Tuesday called it a “major step in shifting management of select ED programs to partner agencies.”

The president told reporters at the White House that he thinks Andrew Cuomo should stay in the race, saying he “would have a good shot at winning.”

The Democratic former New York governor, who clashed with Trump while in office, re-launched his campaign for New York City mayor on Monday as an independent, aiming to offer a more middle-road choice than Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani.

Mamdani is a democratic socialist state lawmaker whom Trump has harshly criticized, including on Tuesday when he called him “a communist.”

Trump says he’ll be meeting with Britain’s prime minister during an upcoming trip to Scotland.

The president told reporters at the White House “we’re going to be meeting” with Prime Minister Keir Starmer “probably in Aberdeen.”

He suggested they’d discuss refining a previously announced trade deal.

Trump said the meeting would take place at “probably one of my properties.” His family business has a golf course near Aberdeen in northeast Scotland, while a second course is set to open in the area soon. There is also a Trump course near Turnberry in the country’s southwest.

U.S. officials say they are still sorting through Ukraine’s wish list of weaponry that it would like to receive from NATO members to determine what can be most quickly replaced after President Donald Trump announced an agreement for Europe to supply Ukraine with defensive munitions from existing stocks.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss arms transfers that have not yet been approved or completed, said Ukraine’s requests for materiel are roughly the same as they have been since the start of Russia’s invasion more than three years ago. Those include air defenses like Patriot missiles and Advanced Precision Kill Weapon Systems, long range missile known as ATACMS and short- to medium-range ground-to-air missiles known as NASAMs, and assorted artillery, according to the officials.

Under the terms of the very rough agreement sketched out by Trump and NATO chief Mark Rutte on Monday, NATO members would ship billions of dollars of these weapons to Ukraine and then purchase replacements for them from the United States.

One official said some of the larger items – such as Patriots- could take up to five years to produce to deliver to the European donors, while smaller munitions like 155mm artillery shells can be produced on a much shorter timeline

The president said he wants Texas state lawmakers to create five new Republican congressional districts when they meet in a special session starting next week to discuss redistricting.

Asked as he departed the White House for Pittsburgh about the possibility of adding GOP-friendly districts around the country, Trump responded, “Texas will be the biggest one. And that’ll be five.”

Texas, still reeling from deadly flooding, will hold a special legislative session starting July 21.

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott had previously referenced a letter from the Department of Justice raising concerns about the legalities of four of Texas’ 38 congressional districts.

But Trump now says he’d like to see five now made more GOP-friendly.

“We’re not looking to do that,” Trump told reporters ahead of departing the White House for an energy investment event in Pittsburgh.

Trump made the comments after he threatened Russia a day earlier with steep tariffs if Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn’t soon end the three-year conflict and announced a rejuvenated pipeline for American weapons to reach Ukraine.

It’s the most substantive pressure he’s placed on Putin since returning to office nearly six months ago.

Trump, who has repeatedly said his only priority is quickly ending the war, deflected when asked by a reporter if he’s now on Ukraine’s side in the bloody conflict.

The president responded that he on the side of “humanity.”

President Donald Trump said he plans to tariff imports from Indonesia at 19%, while American goods sent to the southeast Asian country will face no tariffs.

Trump spelled out some of the details of the agreement he announced Tuesday on Truth Social before boarding the presidential helicopter.

“They are going to pay 19% and we are going to pay nothing,” said Trump, implying that foreign countries pay the entirety of tariffs even though importers in the U.S. technically must pay the tax.

Trump said Indonesia is “very strong” on copper. But it was unclear what role copper played in any agreement, as he has separately taxed the commodity at 50% starting on Aug. 1.

The U.S. president said on Truth Social he had reached an agreement after speaking with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.

A bipartisan pair of senators is speaking out to say Trump is giving Russia too much time by waiting 50 days to impose sanctions.

Sens. Thom Tillis, a Republican of North Carolina, and Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat of New Hampshire, both said that the 50-day waiting period would only give Russian President Vladimir Putin more time to gain an advantage in the war.

“The 50-day delay worries me,” Tillis told reporters. “That Putin would try to use the 50 days to win the war, or to be better positioned to negotiate, a peace agreement after having murdered and potentially collected more ground.”

Tillis and Shaheen lead the Senate NATO Observer Group, which facilitates work between Congress and NATO, and were hosting NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Capitol Hill Tuesday.

At a news conference alongside the senators, Rutte praised the American president and said Trump’s sanctions plan would immediately start putting pressure on Russia to strike a peace deal.

“Surprisingly, you’ve been on the White House payroll for the last few months,” said Rosen. “Throughout this year, you’ve made (assertions) that, if confirmed, you would root out waste and unnecessary overhead at the UN. So can you confirm for us whether you’ve been receiving a salary from the White House since being let go as the NSA?”

Waltz resented the claim that he was fired.

“I was not fired. The president never said that, nor did the vice president. I was kept on, as an advisor, transitioning a number of important, a number of important activities,” said Waltz.

“It’s also been publicly reported that you’ve been receiving almost $200,000 of the taxpayer money since you were dismissed from being the national security advisor,” said Rosen.

Waltz was listed as a White House “advisor” as of July 1, for which he receives an annual salary of $195,200. Rosen’s questions were the last round before the hearing was adjourned.

Mike Waltz told his confirmation hearing to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations that staff members from the agency, known as UNRWA, were involved in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attacks in southern Israel, that its schools teach hatred of Jews.

“It simply not only needs to be defunded, which the president has put in place with his executive order, but it should be dismantled,” Waltz said, stressing that UNRWA cannot again have a humanitarian role in Gaza.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed a British human rights activist on Tuesday to carry out a strategic review of UNRWA to assess its impact under the “present political, financial, security and other constraints.”

Israel has banned UNRWA from operating in its territory. It alleged that 19 out of UNRWA’s approximately 13,000 staff in Gaza participated in the Oct. 7 attacks.

UNRWA said it fired nine staffers after an internal U.N. investigation. Israel later alleged that about 100 other Palestinians in Gaza were Hamas members, but never provided any evidence to the United Nations.

Mike Waltz told his confirmation hearing to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations that the U.N. General Assembly and U.N. schools in Gaza have promoted “antisemitic hate.”

He said U.N. revenue “has quadrupled in the last 20 years” but hasn’t been commensurate with an increase in world peace, a key U.S. goal for the U.N. He called for reforms saying, “The U.N. has ballooned over 80 agencies with overlapping missions and waste resources.”

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has repeatedly decried the resurgence of antisemitism and the U.N. holds an annual commemoration of the Nazi Holocaust during World War II.

Like all his recent predecessors as U.N. chief, Guterres has sought to reform the United Nations which was born on the ashes of World War II and at age 80 is struggling to tackle 21st century challenges. Last September, the General Assembly adopted a “Pact for the Future” with a blueprint for reforms == but whether they will be implemented remains to be seen.

Unlike past nomination hearings, attendees in the Senate chamber did not wear t-shirts, veteran attire, medical scrubs or other clothing outside of business attire.

Many seated attendees were family of the nominees and featured multiple generations. Most attendees faces were generally stone-faced throughout the hearing, with mild chuckles and grimaces during more tense moments of the proceedings.

The proceedings have not been interrupted by any protestors. Security was tight outside the doors onto the chamber.

“I’ve watched this hearing, and I’ve been really disappointed,” said the New Jersey Democrat. “What’s been troubling to me about your nomination from the beginning is your failure to just stand up and take accountability for mistakes that you made and that all Americans know that you’ve made.”

Booker said that “every one of us has made mistakes” but that Americans expect from leaders “is for people to stand up and just take responsibility, take accountability.”

“I just watched with great disappointment that even after weeks, if not months, of reflection, you couldn’t sit before this committee and take some responsibility, and talk constructively about what’s learned,” said Booker.

“Instead, you do what seems to be yet another creative tool that people are doing, which is, ‘Hey, let me just blame Biden’.”

Waltz did not directly respond to Booker’s comments but in a comment in response to a question from Sen. Rick Scott, Waltz said: “I appreciate the men and women that I’ve had to lead in combat. And I think the last thing that would call me is a coward.”

Lutnick, speaking at an energy and tech summit in Pittsburgh, said the “number one investor in the environmental narrative is China” and that the U.S. has the energy capacity to drive the artificial intelligence revolution, but China doesn’t.

China is opening a coal plant every week and wants the U.S. to close theirs in an effort to hamstring the U.S.′ ability to win the AI race, Lutnick told the crowd during a panel discussion.

“The AI revloultion is upon us,” Lutnick said. “The Trump administration will not let us lose. We need to do clean beautiful coal. We need to do natural gas. We need to embrace nuclear, we need to embrace it all because we have the power to do it and if we don’t do it, we’re fools.”

Waltz stressed that the Trump administration’s diplomatic strategy would be focused on cutting costs to what he called “waste, fraud and abuse that are endemic to the U.N. system.”

“It’s worth remembering, despite the cuts, the U.S. is by far the most generous nation in the world,” said Waltz, responding to concerns that the administration’s cuts to global programs hurt U.S. influence.

Waltz added that some U.N.-funded research and projects were anti-American and received input from some U.N. members who the administration considers adversaries.

“The U.N.’s radical politicization, such reports as ‘Stolen Native American Land’ reports and investigations, called the ‘George Floyd mechanism’, labeling American police and America systemically racist with input from countries like Cuba and Venezuela, is unacceptable,” said Waltz.

Sen. Jim Risch was critical of the United States being the biggest provider to the U.N.’s $3.72 billion budget and the separate budget for its far-flung peacekeeping operations, yet according to him, Washington is not getting the commensurate support at the 193-nation world body.

Assessments paid by all U.N. member nations to the regular budget are based on their economies. The U.S., with the world’s biggest economy, is expected to pay 22% of the regular budget, while China, with the second-largest economy, recently had its share raised to 20%.

Last year, 152 of the U.N.’s 193 member nations paid their dues in full, including China, but 41 countries did not, including the United States.

“I don’t think that most Americans want to live in a world where the Chinese Communist Party is driving the agenda,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee.

“If we walk away from international bodies like the U.N., the result won’t be reforms that advance American interests,” she added.

Shaheen said she hoped that, if confirmed, Waltz would work with the Senate “to preserve America’s ability to lead.”

“Put simply, we cannot shape these organizations or even push for the reforms that we want unless we’re at the table,” Shaheen said.

Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho said Waltz will help “return the U.N. to its core and founding mandate of maintaining international peace and security” and restrain “mission creep” at the international body.

“The U.N. is always a challenge and desperately needs reform, which we’ve been unable to accomplish so far,” said Risch, adding, “There’s a lot of anti-American sentiment at the U.N.”

Risch warned that “China is working with our adversaries to undermine America and our allies” and said that Waltz’s time as U.N. ambassador comes at a “critical time” for geopolitical tensions between countries like China and Russia.

The Republican from Utah, a friend of Waltz, called him “one of the most well-qualified U.S. ambassador nominees to the United Nations ever,” before listing off his military service as a Green Beret in the Army and praising his work on national security issues during his time in Congress.

Lee lambasted the efficacy of the U.N. and said the Trump administration “has some legitimate concerns” about the international body, which Lee called “a disaster and a detriment” to U.S. interests.

“With Waltz at the helm, the U.N. will have what I regard as what should be its last chance to demonstrate its actual value to the United States,” Lee continued. “Instead of progressive political virtue signaling, the Security Council has the chance to prove its value, and settling disputes and brokering deals.”

If confirmed, Waltz would head to the U.N. at a moment of great change. The world body is reeling from Trump’s decision to slash foreign assistance – affecting its humanitarian aid agencies – and it anticipates U.S. funding cuts to the U.N. annual budget.

Under an “America First” foreign policy realignment, the White House has asserted that “some of the U.N.’s agencies and bodies have drifted” from their founding mission and “act contrary to the interests of the United States while attacking our allies and propagating anti-Semitism.”

Facing financial instability, the U.N. has spent months shedding jobs and consolidating projects while beginning to tackle long-delayed reforms. The U.N. is also facing growing frustration over what critics describe as a lack of efficiency and power in delivering on its mandate to end conflict and prevent wars.

The Republican from Utah, a friend of Waltz, called him “one of the most well-qualified U.S. ambassador nominees to the United Nations ever,” before listing off his military service as a Green Beret in the Army and praising his work on national security issues during his time in Congress.

Lee lambasted the efficacy of the U.N. and said the Trump administration “has some legitimate concerns” about the international body, which Lee called “a disaster and a detriment” to U.S. interests.

“Instead of progressive political virtue signaling, the Security Council has the chance to prove its value, and settling disputes and brokering deals,” Lee continued.

Trump’s pick for U.N. ambassador entered the chamber alone and sat alongside the administration’s ambassadorial nominees to Portugal and Sweden. Senators from both parties are also coming in.

Members of Waltz’s family sat behind him alongside kin of the other nominees.

The monthly inflation report showed signs that tariffs are pushing up prices, but Trump is declaring victory over inflation anyway.

“Consumer Prices LOW,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Bring down the Fed Rate, NOW!!!”

The consumer price index report for June showed a 2.7% annual inflation rate, meaningfully higher than the Fed’s 2% inflation target based on a separate measure of prices.

However, Trump has brushed aside concerns about tariffs and pressured Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to instead cut the short-term interest rates, a move that could accelerate inflationary pressures.

Trump further posted that the “Fed should cut Rates by 3 Points. Very Low Inflation. One Trillion Dollars a year would be saved!!!”

It was unclear whether Trump wanted a 3-percentage point cut to the rate, which is effectively 4.33% right now. The Fed usually cuts rates in .25-percentage point increments.

Worsening inflation poses a political challenge for Trump, who promised during last year’s presidential campaign to immediately lower costs. Higher inflation will also likely heighten the Federal Reserve’s reluctance to cut its short-term interest rate, as Trump is loudly demanding.

The Labor Department said Tuesday that consumer prices for things like gas, food and groceries rose 2.7% in June from a year earlier, up from an annual increase of 2.4% in May. On a monthly basis, prices climbed 0.3% from May to June, after rising just 0.1% the previous month.

Trump’s sweeping tariffs are also pushing up the cost of a range of goods, including furniture, clothing, and large appliances.

As his supporters erupt over the Justice Department’s failure to release much-hyped records in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking investigation, President Trump’s strategy has been to downplay the issue.

His problem? That nothing-to-see-here approach doesn’t work for those who have learned from him that they must not give up until the government’s deepest, darkest secrets are exposed.

On Saturday, Trump used his Truth Social platform to again attempt to call supporters off the Epstein trail amid reports of infighting between Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino over the issue. He suggested the turmoil was undermining his administration, but that did little to mollify Trump’s supporters, who urged him to release the files or risk losing his base.

The political crisis is especially challenging for Trump because it’s one of his own making. The president has spent years stoking dark theories and embracing QAnon-tinged propaganda that casts him as the only savior who can demolish the “deep state.” Now that he’s running the federal government, the community he helped build is coming back to haunt him. It’s demanding answers he either isn’t able to or does not want to provide

Trump hailed as “amazing” the news from the NATO summit last month that member countries will increase defense spending to 5% of their gross domestic product.

“Nobody thought that that was possible,” Trump told the BBC.

He has complained for a long time that the U.S. shoulders too much of the NATO burden and has demanded that countries devote more of their budgets to defense.

Reminded that he previously had called NATO “obsolete,” Trump said, “I think NATO is now becoming the opposite of that. I do think it was past.”

Speaking about British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump noted in the BBC interview, “I really like the prime minister, even though he’s a liberal.”

Trump and Starmer have met several times, including in the Oval Office, and the prime minister was quick to negotiate a trade framework with the United States to avoid the steep tariffs Trump is imposing on other countries.

Trump is due to visit Britain in mid-September for an unprecedented second state visit. Asked about his goals for the trip, Trump said, “I want to have a good time and respect King Charles, because he’s a great gentleman.”

Trump and his wife, first lady Melania Trump, are set to visit the U.K. between Sept. 17 and 19 and will be hosted by King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Windsor Castle.

No U.S. president has been invited for a second state visit. Trump previously enjoyed state visit pomp and pageantry in 2019 during his first term when he was hosted by Charles’ late mother, Queen Elizabeth II.

Asked about Putin in a telephone interview with the BBC that aired on Tuesday, Trump said, “I’m disappointed in him. But I’m not done with him, but I’m disappointed in him.”

Trump said he thought he and Putin had reached a deal several times to end Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine, only to find out that Russia had just attacked Kyiv again.

The president dodged when asked if he trusts Putin. “I trust almost nobody, to be honest with you,” Trump said.

The Kremlin said Tuesday that new supplies of U.S. weapons to Ukraine announced by President Trump will extend the conflict.

Asked about comments by Trump, who threatened Russia with steep tariffs if it fails to agree to a peace deal in 50 days and announced a rejuvenated pipeline for American weapons to reach Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “such decisions made in Washington, in NATO members and in Brussels are perceived by the Ukrainian side as a signal for continuing the war, not a signal for peace.”

He reaffirmed that Russia is open to continuing the talks with Ukraine in Istanbul, but is still waiting for Kyiv to offer a date for their new round. “We are ready to continue the dialogue,” he said, adding that “we haven’t yet received signals about the third round and it’s hard to say what’s the reason.”

The Supreme Court is allowing President Donald Trump to put his plan to dismantle the Education Department back on track and go through with laying off nearly 1,400 employees.

With the three liberal justices in dissent, the court on Monday paused an order from U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Boston, who issued a preliminary injunction reversing the layoffs and calling into question the broader plan.

The layoffs “will likely cripple the department,” Joun wrote. A federal appeals court refused to put the order on hold while the administration appealed.

The high court action enables the administration to resume work on winding down the department, one of Trump’s biggest campaign promises.