Michael Waltz was confirmed as the U.S. Representative to the United Nations General Assembly in a vote on Monday, the Washington Examiner reported. Waltz was previously confirmed as the ambassador to the U.N. on Sept. 19, but a second vote was required to designate him as the representative for the U.S. for the yearly gathering in New York City last week.
Waltz, a former Florida congressman, was nominated for the ambassadorship in May. He previously served as President Donald Trump's national security adviser, but was removed from the position after a journalist from The Atlantic was accidentally included in a Signal group chat about potential military action.
CSPAN producer Craig Caplan recounted Monday's vote on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday. "54-45: Senate confirmed Michael Waltz to be U.S. Representative to the U.N. General Assembly. Democrats Fetterman, Kelly and Shaheen voted Yes; Paul was the only Republican to vote No. Senators confirmed him earlier this month to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. & U.S. Rep. to the U.N. Security Council," the post explained.
54-45: Senate confirmed Michael Waltz to be U.S. Representative to the U.N. General Assembly. Democrats Fetterman, Kelly and Shaheen voted Yes; Paul was the only Republican to vote No. Senators confirmed him earlier this month to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. & U.S. Rep.… pic.twitter.com/vSTc0BJUq8
— Craig Caplan (@CraigCaplan) September 30, 2025
The Signal controversy had leftists champing at the bit for another Trump-era scandal, but Waltz made quick work of their attacks by revealing that it was he who should take the blame, according to the BBC. "I take full responsibility," Waltz said in March.
"I built the group," he said, adding that the whole debacle was "embarrassing." The journalist who was added to the chat was The Atlantic's Editor-in-Chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, who said in an article about the incident that the messages pertained to forthcoming strikes in Yemen and included details such as timing, targets, and weapons.
The messages were sent two hours before the strike took place, and the leftist news outlets and others like it made it seem like this mistake was a breach of national security like none other. For Waltz's part, he explained that he was not aware of exactly how it happened, as he didn't have Goldberg's phone number programmed into the app, which enables users to send encrypted messages.
"We've got the best technical minds looking at how this happened. I can tell you for 100% I don't know this guy," Waltz said. He went on to say that he would enlist Tesla founder Elon Musk, who was the head of the Department of Government Efficiency at the time, for help with the technology aspect.
Waltz later concluded that contacts from his phone were potentially caught up by Signal, which might explain how it carried over to the app. "Well, if you have somebody else's contact, then somehow it … gets sucked in. It gets sucked in," he explained. This seemed to take the momentum away from what Democrats were gearing up to make into a scandal.
With Waltz confirmed for the U.N. General Assembly, it was time for him to come to Trump's defense once again, this time because of some coincidental "glitches" that happened as world leaders gathered at the UN Headquarters. As Fox News reported, an escalator carrying the president and First Lady Melania Trump abruptly stopped once they got on, and a teleprompter stopped working just as Donald Trump was about to speak.
The president recovered gracefully from both incidents, but he believed they were intentional, and Waltz added that there was yet a third mixup when an audio broadcast of his speech switched from English to Portuguese without explanation. "The whole thing is unacceptable. The whole thing stinks," Waltz said.
"There’s 150 world leaders there, and this only happens to him, not once, not twice, but three times," Waltz added. The ambassador explained that the Secretary-General and the Secret Service were investigating the apparent acts of sabotage.
"As the ambassador, I said, you’ve got to open your doors, and some people were kind of shoulder-shrugging at this. This could have been incredibly serious. It’s insulting, and it’s right here on American soil," Waltz said.
Judging from the way Waltz handled the Signal controversy and the mishaps at the UN General Assembly, he was undoubtedly the right man for the job. People in government don't always get things right, but they seldom own up to it when they don't, which sets Waltz apart.
