Elise Stefanik put on a brave face on Thursday after President Donald Trump pulled the rug.
The New York congresswoman sang praises for Trump in her first interview since the president announced that he was withdrawing her nomination as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations to protect Republicans’ razor-thin House majority.
“I was honored to have earned that nomination by President Trump, and I’m proud to be one of his top allies on Capitol Hill,” she told Fox News’ Hannity.
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Though Trump announced the withdrawal in a Truth Social post, there was no indication of bad blood between him and Stefanik, whom he described as “absolutely fantastic.”
“I have been proud to be a team player,” the congresswoman said. “The president knows that—he and I had multiple conversations today—and we are committed to delivering results on behalf of the American people.”
Stefanik said it was about “stepping up as a team” and that “I am doing that as a leader,” to deliver “historic results.”
“I’ve been in the House, it’s tough to count these votes every day and we are going to continue to defy the political prognosticators and deliver victory on behalf of President Trump.”
Trump concluded his announcement by stating that he was looking forward to “the day when Elise is able to join my Administration in the future.”
Asked by guest host Kayleigh McEnany what a future posting in the Trump administration might look like, Stefanik said the public should expect to see more of her.
“I’m going to continue speaking out,” she said. “The good news is because I’m not pending confirmation, the American people will be hearing a lot more from me because you’re limited in what you can say when you are pending confirmation.”
Though Stefanik was all smiles after she got the plum job snatched out of her hands, it appeared that she had been gearing up to head to the United Nations.
In February, the New York representative threw a farewell event for her supporters after senators supported her nomination.
“I will continue to work through the Senate confirmation process to bring President Trump’s America First peace through strength leadership to the UN,” she said in a January Facebook post that included a photo of her beaming.
