L. Brent Bozell III, who must be confirmed by the Senate, will take office at a time when relations between South Africa and the United States are at a low.
President Trump plans to nominate L. Brent Bozell III, a conservative media critic and ardent defender of Israel, to be the U.S. ambassador to South Africa, according to a congressional website.
Mr Bozell had previously been nominated to head the US global media agency, but his nomination was withdrawn on Monday, according to the Congress website.
Mr. Bozell's name was one of several submitted to the Senate on Tuesday for various ambassadorial positions, according to two government officials who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the process. The State Department declined to comment.
Mr. Bozell, who must be confirmed by the Senate, will take office at a time when relations between South Africa and the United States are at their worst in recent memory. The Trump administration recently expelled South Africa’s ambassador to the United States after he criticized Mr. Trump during a webinar.
The Trump administration has criticized the South African government for its close relations with Iran and its hardline stance against Israel, including bringing a genocide case to the International Court of Justice over the Gaza war.
It was not immediately clear whether Mr. Bozell had ties to South Africa. He is the founder and president of the Media Research Center, a watchdog group that targets network TV hosts and mainstream media outlets for liberal bias. Once a critic of Mr. Trump, Mr. Bozell has now become a fixture in his ranks. His son, Leo Brent Bozell IV, was one of nearly 1,600 people convicted and sentenced for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, but was pardoned by Mr. Trump.
The elder Mr. Bozell was a vocal supporter of the Israeli government. After Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, he posted a fundraising appeal for Israel on his center’s website, saying he did not usually make appeals for external causes but was making an exception because “this is an emergency.”
“Israel is fighting for its very existence,” he wrote.
The Trump administration has also accused South Africa’s government of discriminating against its white minority. Last month, Mr. Trump issued an executive order that suspended all American aid to South Africa and granted refugee status to Afrikaners, the white ethnic minority that once led the apartheid government.
Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa, has frequently posted messages on X disparaging the South African government, falsely claiming that there were massacres of white farmers there. He has also claimed that his Starlink satellite business was not allowed in South Africa because he is not black. (The country requires foreign companies to give shares to members of historically disadvantaged groups.)
South African officials were stunned by the attacks from Mr Trump, Mr Musk and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, saying they were based on misinformation.
John Eligon is The Times's Johannesburg bureau chief, covering a wide range of events and trends that affect and shape the lives of ordinary people across South Africa. More about John Eligon
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