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WASHINGTON, March 27 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he had withdrawn his pick to be ambassador to the United Nations because the Republicans need to maintain their slim majority in the House of Representatives to advance his “America First” agenda.
Republican Representative Elise Stefanik was chosen by the president for the U.N. role less than a week after he was elected in November. CBS News first reported that Stefanik’s nomination could be withdrawn.
“It is essential that we maintain EVERY Republican Seat in Congress,” Trump said in a social media post. “With a very tight Majority, I don’t want to take a chance on anyone else running for Elise’s seat.” Republicans hold a narrow 218-213 majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, where there are four vacancies, as they prepare to try to extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and address a national debt that tops $36.6 trillion.
Stefanik was the last cabinet-level Trump nominee who had not been confirmed. She was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, with some Democratic votes, on Jan. 30 and had been expected to be easily approved by the full Senate.
Veteran U.S. diplomat Dorothy Shea has been the acting U.S. ambassador to the U.N. since the Biden administration’s envoy Linda Thomas-Greenfield stepped down in January. It was not immediately clear who Trump might choose to replace Stefanik.
A spokesperson for Stefanik did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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