UPDATE - Trump announces picks for UN envoy, top justice posts

ADDS DETAILS THROUGHOUT

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday he is nominating State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert to be the U.S.'s new UN envoy.

Current ambassador Nikki Haley announced in October she would be leaving the post at year's end.

Nauert is a former Fox News host whom Trump said is "very talented, very smart, very quick and I think that she will be respected by all."

"She's done a great job working with Mike Pompeo and others over at the State Department," Trump told reporters at the White House.

Nauert entered the role in 2017 without any foreign policy experience, and if confirmed by the Senate she would play a leading role in executing the U.S.'s international agenda.

Under Nauert the State Department has dramatically scaled back its once daily press conferences to only a handful, at best, each week.

Nauert has also come under fire for an Instagram post in Saudi Arabia that some criticized as "touristy" while she was in the Kingdom to discuss the disappearance of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

Riyadh initially denied a role in Khashoggi’s murder, but later blamed it on a group of rogue agents.

Trump also said he would be nominating William Barr, who served as attorney general under George H.W. Bush, to replace former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, whom Trump forced to resign last month.

Trump called Barr "one of the most respected jurists in the country," as well as a "highly respected lawyer" in his announcement.

If confirmed, Barr would be assuming the top post at the Justice Department for the second time after already serving as attorney general from 1991 to 1993.

"He was my first choice from day one," Trump said. "Hopefully that process will go very quickly, and I think it will go very quickly."