Trump taps China hawk Rep. Mike Waltz for national security adviser role

Presidentelect Donald Trump has asked US Rep Michael Waltz a retired Army National Guard officer and war veteran to be his national security adviser a person familiar with the matter said MondayThe nod came despite simmering concerns on Capitol Hill about Trump tapping members of the House where the final tally is still uncertain and there are worries about pulling any GOP members from the chamber because that would force a new election to fill the empty seat The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter before Trump made a formal announcementThe move would put Waltz at the forefront of a litany of national security crises ranging from the ongoing effort to provide weapons to Ukraine and escalating worries about the growing alliance between Russia and North Korea to the persistent attacks in the Middle East by Iran proxies and the push for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and HezbollahWaltz a threeterm GOP congressman from eastcentral Florida was the first Green Beret elected to the US House and easily won reelection last week He has been chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness and a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Permanent Select Committee on IntelligenceWaltz is an ardent Trump advocate who backed efforts to overturn the 2020 election He is considered hawkish on China and called for a US boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing due to its involvement in the origin of COVID19 and its ongoing mistreatment of the minority Muslim Uighur populationHe has been a sharp critic of the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan and has called on the US to hold accountable those who bear responsibility for the deaths of the 13 US service members at Abbey Gate and for thousands of Americans and allies behind enemy linesHe has also repeated Trumps frequent complaints about a socalled woke military that the former president has derided as soft and too focused on diversity and equity programs In a statement last year Waltz said that as head of the readiness subcommittee I am ready to get to work to better equip our military and turn our focus away from woke priorities and back to winning wars Our national security depends on itA graduate of Virginia Military Institute Waltz was a Green Beret He served in the activeduty Army for four years before moving to the Florida Guard While in the Guard he did multiple combat tours in Afghanistan the Middle East and Africa and was awarded four Bronze Stars including two with valorHe also worked in the Pentagon as a policy adviser when Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates were defence chiefs PresidentElect Trump will begin making decisions on who will serve in his second Administration soon said Karoline Leavitt a spokesperson for the Trump transition Those decisions will be announced when they are madeThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever