It's been nearly a month since President Trump said he would announce a new U.N. ambassador "before the end of the week," but he doesn't appear to be much closer to finally doing so.
State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert is no longer being considered for the position, Politico reported Thursday. Multiple outlets, including ABC News and CNN, reported in early November that Nauert was Trump's top choice and that he had even offered her the job, but now, she's apparently out of the running for a variety of reasons, including her scant foreign policy experience.
It seems Trump is struggling to settle on a new candidate, with Politico reporting that "no one has grabbed the front-runner mantel" and a source close to the White House saying that this seems to be "the position they could never quite find someone to fill." Among those in consideration now are reportedly Michigan Republican John James, who lost a Senate race against Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), and Richard Grenell, the U.S. ambassador to Germany.
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Trump doesn't have much longer to decide, as U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley is leaving at the end of the year, leaving open the possibility that the job search will stretch on until the last minute and, as Politico puts it, Trump will "tap someone at the 11th hour who has already been passed over."
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