Heather Nauert withdraws from consideration as UN ambassador

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Saturday she has withdrawn from consideration as UN ambassador.

President Donald Trump had previously announced he was picking Nauert, but the formal nomination had not been sent to the Senate.
“I am grateful to President Trump and Secretary Pompeo for the trust they placed in me for considering me for the position of US Ambassador to the United Nations. However, the past two months have been grueling for my family and therefore it is in the best interest of my family that I withdraw my name from consideration. Serving in the Administration for the past two years has been one of the highest honors of my life and I will always be grateful to the President, the Secretary, and my colleagues at the State Department for their support,” Nauert said in a statement from the State Department.

The State Department said Trump will make an announcement about a new nominee soon.

Before she joined the State Department, Nauert employed a nanny who was in the United States legally but was not legally allowed to work, a source familiar with the matter and an administration official told CNN. The nanny wasn’t paying taxes while she worked, the sources said. This was not known when Nauert became the State Department spokeswoman, but she did tell officials when she was offered the United Nations ambassadorship, the sources said.

Nauert disclosed the nanny when she filled out the paperwork for the UN position, a source close to Nauert who was helping prepare her for the nomination told CNN’s Kylie Atwood. When it became apparent in the past week that it would be an issue, Nauert decided to step away because “she was not aware of how tough it was going to make it.”

Nauert became State Department spokeswoman in April 2017.

More From CNN: