Trump picks China hawk for crucial national security role

US President-elect Donald Trump has picked former army special forces veteran and noted China hawk Michael Waltz for the crucial National Security Advisor post in the White House, reports said on Monday.

Waltz looks set to be a key advisor in the incoming administration as it faces a raft of foreign policy challenges, including the wars in Ukraine, Lebanon and Gaza.

The New York Times and CNN reported his impending appointment on Monday, citing unnamed sources.

The Florida congressman delivered a speech praising Trump at the Republican National Convention in July in which he called for "peace through America's strength".

Asked about Trump's plans to end the war in Ukraine, he told CNN on election night last week that there was "a way to drive this war to an end, we can do it economically, we can do it diplomatically."

He mentioned specifically enforcing sanctions on Russia's energy sector, having previously dubbed the country a "gas station with nukes".

"You could win this economically," he said during an interview to promote his book "Hard Truths: Think and Lead Like a Green Beret" last month which also suggested flooding the oil market with US crude to drive down prices.

"Just pouring more billions in (to Ukraine) is the definition of insanity at this point," he told an interviewer at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute.

On China, he wrote in his book that America faced an "existential struggle" with the Chinese Communist Party.

He expressed concern about what he termed a "1930s-era, Nazi Germany-style military build up" in China during a talk at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation last month.

In his speech at the Republican Convention, Waltz also focused on his desire to see "accountability" for Washington's chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 under President Joe Biden.

He called it "a stain on our national conscience" and praised Trump for promising to release official documents and communications over the withdrawal which could prove to be a major embarrassment for the Biden administration.

Waltz served in Afghanistan during a 27-year career in the army.

He has extensive experience in Congress, sitting on the Armed Services and Intelligence Committee in the House of Representatives and the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Marco Rubio new secretary of state

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to name Florida Senator Marco Rubio as secretary of state, The New York Times reported Monday night.

It quoted three people as saying that the decision is not final, but that Trump appears to have settled on Rubio, a loyalist whom Trump passed over as his vice-presidential running mate.

Rubio has been consistently named over the last week as one of the frontrunners to head US diplomacy, along with the abrasive former ambassador to Germany, Ric Grenell.

He would become a key architect of Trump's second term "America First" foreign policy, with Trump having promised to end the wars raging in Ukraine and the Middle East and avoid any more American military entanglements overseas.

Fellow Florida Senator Rick Scott sent congratulations to Rubio in a message on X, writing: "He will restore American leadership around the world, especially in Latin America, as he represents the United States with dignity and courage!"

The nomination of Rubio, a hawkish congressman with Cuban heritage, would cap a remarkable turnaround in his relations with Trump.

In 2016, when they were competing for the Republican presidential nomination, Rubio called Trump a "con artist" and the "most vulgar person to ever aspire to the presidency."

Trump belittled him as "Little Marco" and mocked him for sweating and wearing heavy makeup during TV appearances.

- China hawk -

Rubio first made his name in foreign policy as a vociferous opponent of Cuba and its leftist allies in Latin America, particularly Venezuela.

He has since become one of the most outspoken senators against Beijing, viewing the Asian power as a major threat to US interests.

He has sought to make it more difficult for Chinese companies to operate in the United States and has led congressional efforts to punish Beijing on human rights grounds over its treatment of the Uyghur minority.

Compared with Trump, he offers a more traditional US approach to foreign policy.

After Trump spoke during his campaign about Taiwan needing to pay "protection" money to Washington, Rubio spoke out in favor of the self-governing democracy and predicted that a second Trump administration would support its defense against China.

Born to Cuban immigrants in Miami, Rubio graduated with a political science degree from the University of Florida in 1993.

He was elected to the US Senate in 2010 with his campaign buoyed by the Tea Party, a far-right contingent of Republicans that coalesced in the aftermath of Barack Obama's election as president.

Trump has promised to bring global stability through American strength, but his plans for how he intends to end the war in Ukraine remain unspecified, with European allies and Ukraine concerned about unilateral US moves.

New appointments

Donald Trump named new members for his incoming administration on Monday, tapping loyalist hardliners for several key posts including a "border czar" who will be in charge of mass deportations.

His staffing picks are the subject of intense speculation and scrutiny, with Trump vowing that his second administration will oversee a radical shake-up of the federal government.

The 78-year-old Republican tycoon said Sunday he would nominate immigration official Tom Homan as the country's "border czar," while Lee Zeldin, an early political ally, was proposed as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief.

"I've known Tom (Homan) for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders," Trump said on Truth Social, adding that Homan would be in charge of "all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin."

New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik got the nod for UN ambassador, while US media say Stephen Miller, who was the architect of Trump's so-called "Muslim ban" immigration policy during his first term, was set to be his deputy chief of staff with a broad portfolio.

Another hardliner, Florida congressman Michael Waltz, a noted China critic, is reportedly in line to take the crucial National Security Advisor role, according to The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.

Waltz, an army special forces veteran re-elected to the House of Representatives last week, delivered a speech praising Trump at the Republican National Convention in July in which he called for "peace through America's strength."

Asked about Trump's plans to end the war in Ukraine, he told CNN on election night last week that there was "a way to drive this war to an end, we can do it economically, we can do it diplomatically."

He mentioned specifically enforcing sanctions on Russia's energy sector.

Stefanik, who has voiced strong support for Israel, will represent the administration at the UN as the world body grapples with the war in Ukraine as well Israel's bombardment of Gaza and Lebanon.

Stefanik's and Zeldin's nominations would need approval by the Senate, but Trump is hoping to bypass oversight by the upper chamber by making appointments while it is in recess.

He has turned the issue into a loyalty test, insisting Saturday that any Republican seeking to be the leader of the Senate "must agree" to recess appointments.

The three senators jockeying for the post immediately issued statements saying they supported the move, or were at least open to the idea.

- Deregulation -

Trump will not be inaugurated until January, and had previously made one cabinet-level appointment, naming his campaign manager Susie Wiles as his White House chief of staff, a position that does not require Senate confirmation.

Homan, a former acting director of ICE, holds hardline views on immigration, as does Miller, who served as Trump's senior advisor and speechwriter during his first term.

Curbing illegal immigration served as one of Trump's central campaign promises as he pledged to launch the largest deportation operation of undocumented migrants in US history beginning on day one.

As Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head, Trump said Zeldin would be tasked with making "fair and swift deregulatory decisions" with the Republican president promising to shred rules on safety and pollution that he considers red tape for businesses.

Stefanik, a key Trump ally now in her fifth term in office, has been a staunch defender of Israel and will head to the UN as the wars in Gaza and Lebanon dominate diplomacy.

"The work ahead is immense as we see antisemitism skyrocketing, coupled with four years of catastrophically weak US leadership that significantly weakened our national security and diminished our standing in the eyes of both allies and adversaries," she said in a statement on Monday.

Israel welcomed the appointment.

"At a time when hate and lies fill the halls of the UN, your unwavering moral clarity is needed more than ever," its UN ambassador Danny Danon wrote on X, wishing her "success in standing firm for truth and justice."