Trump to Nominate Callista Gingrich as Vatican Ambassador
The idea of nominating Ms. Gingrich first became public in January,
and during the transition Mr. Trump half-jokingly said he was intrigued by the idea of picking Ms. Gingrich because it could also get Mr. Gingrich, with whom he has a hot-and-cold relationship, out of his hair, according to one of the people with knowledge of Mr. Trump’s remarks.
But on Monday, Vincent Salamone, a spokesman for the Office of Government Ethics, which checks for potential conflicts of interest and compliance with financial disclosure rules, said the office "completed its work and cleared her report on April 7."
That would mean that either another agency in the vetting process had not signed off on Ms. Gingrich’s nomination or that the White House itself did not yet want to make the nomination public.
Over recent months, Ms. Gingrich and her husband grew increasingly frustrated with the slow pace of the vetting process,
and Ms. Gingrich even threatened to take her name out of the running, according to one of the people.
By JASON HOROWITZMAY 14, 2017
ROME — Less than two weeks before a potentially tense
and diplomatically delicate meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, President Trump has apparently settled on nominating Callista Gingrich, the wife of Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, as the United States ambassador to the Holy See, according to two people close to the president.
Others who were considered include Rick Santorum, the former senator from Pennsylvania, who was an early favorite for the position
but took his name out of the running because of the financial strain it would put on his family, according to one of the people with knowledge of the nomination process.
But she also played a role in breaking up his second marriage, according to Mr. Gingrich’s ex-wife and former adviser, Marianne Gingrich.