Alex Brandon/Associated Press
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert speaks during a briefing at the State Department in Washington on Aug. 9, 2017.
- President Donald Trump has reportedly asked Heather Nauert, the State Department spokeswoman who doubles as one of the US's highest-ranking diplomats, to replace Nikki Haley as US ambassador to the UN.
- Nauert, 48, did not have any foreign policy, government, or political experience when she left her job as a Fox News host to join the Trump administration last year.
- Nauert has also been rumored to top the president's list of potential replacements for White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
President Donald Trump has reportedly asked Heather Nauert, the State Department spokeswoman who doubles as one of the US's highest-ranking diplomats, to replace Nikki Haley as US ambassador to the UN.
Haley abruptly resigned earlier this month - a move she said she had discussed with Trump for months.
Fox News White House correspondent John Roberts reported Thursday afternoon that a senior Trump administration official had informed him that Nauert was offered the post, which Haley will leave by the end of the year.
CNN reported earlier on Thursday that the president had told his top advisers that he would offer the post to Nauert.
Nauert, 48, has for months balanced two high-profile positions at the State Department. And while she is generally well-liked by her colleagues, many say she is underqualified and overloaded with responsibility.
There has never before been a State Department spokesperson who has simultaneously served as under-secretary for public affairs and public diplomacy - a top-ranking post that directs strategic messaging, promotes cross-cultural exchanges, and oversees the Global Engagement Center, which fights foreign propaganda.
And unlike the vast majority of her predecessors in both roles, Nauert arrived in Washington without any foreign policy, government, or political experience.
Reports surfaced in recent months that Nauert was high on the White House's list of potential replacements for Sanders, who is reportedly considering leaving around the end of the year. (Sanders has publicly denied the reports of her planned departure.)