Donald Trump To Nominate Callista Gingrich As U.S. Ambassador To The Vatican

Donald Trump plans to nominate Callista Gingrich to be the new Ambassador to the Vatican.

CALLISTA GINGRICH TO BE AMBASSADOR TO THE VATICAN

Gingrich currently serves as the president of Gingrich Productions, a multimedia production company in Arlington, Virginia. Prior to that, she was a congressional aide in the House of Representatives. She is also the wife of former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.

The White House has not yet commented on the choice. Vincent Salamone, a spokesman for the Office of Government Ethics, however, confirmed that the office “completed its work and cleared her report on April 7.” Newt neither confirmed nor denied the nomination, saying they were told to “be very cautious” until an actual nomination was announced.

Callista has become restless over recent months because of the slow vetting process, and even threatened to withdraw her name from the running. Another considered for the position was Rick Santorum, the former senator from Pennsylvania. He was an early favorite but apparently took his name out of the running due to the financial strain it would cause his family.

Callista was a major factor in her husband’s conversion to Catholicism, but also played a role in breaking up his second marriage. His former wife, Marianne Gingrich, divorced him in 1999. She told ABC News, during Newt’s 2012 run for president, that he had sought to keeo an open marriage so that he could continue his affair with then Callista Bisek, who was a congressional aide.