President-elect Donald Trump has asked retired Army National Guard officer and war veteran Michael Waltz to serve as his national security adviser, according to a person familiar with the matter said Monday.
The nod came despite simmering concerns on Capitol Hill about Trump tapping members of the House, where the final tally is still unknown and there are concerns about removing any GOP members from the chamber, which would necessitate a new election to fill the vacant seat. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the situation before Trump made a formal announcement.
The move would place Waltz at the center of a slew of national security crises, including the ongoing effort to provide weapons to Ukraine and growing concerns about Russia’s alliance with North Korea, as well as Iran’s proxies’ persistent attacks in the Middle East and the push for a cease-fire between Israel, Hamas, and Hezbollah.
Waltz, a three-term Republican congressman from east-central Florida, was the first Green Beret elected to the U.S. House and was easily reelected last week. He previously served as chairman of the House Armed Services subcommittee on readiness, as well as a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
Waltz is a staunch Trump supporter who has backed efforts to overturn the 2020 election. He is considered a hawk on China, having called for a boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing due to its role in the spread of COVID-19 and its ongoing mistreatment of the minority Muslim Uighur population.
He has been a harsh critic of the United States’ chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, calling on the country to hold accountable those responsible for the deaths of 13 US service members at Abbey Gate, as well as “thousands of Americans and allies behind enemy lines.”
He has also reiterated Trump’s frequent criticisms of a so-called “woke” military, which the former president has dismissed as soft and overly focused on diversity and equity initiatives.
In a statement last year, Waltz stated that as chairman of the readiness subcommittee, “I am ready to get to work to better equip our military and shift our focus away from woke priorities and back to winning wars.” “Our national security depends on it.”
Waltz, a Virginia Military Institute graduate, served as a Green Beret. He served in the active-duty Army for four years before joining the Florida Guard. He served in the Guard on multiple combat tours in Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Africa, earning four Bronze Stars, two of which were awarded for valor.
He also served as a policy adviser in the Pentagon under Defense Secretaries Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates.
The Trump transition team did not respond to a request for comment. The Wall Street Journal first reported Waltz’s selection.
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